Eerily human

Mine aren't nearly as exciting as some, but here it goes:

Rules: Post 3 things you've done that you believe nobody else on your F-list has done. Indulge in remorse if someone calls you out on a listed item.

1 - Celebrated birthdays in at least 4 countries (US, Japan, Venezuela and China).

2 - Gotten engaged after knowing my fiancee for less than 9 months (and now taking another 2 years to actually get married...)

3 - Taken 400-level college courses in two different foreign languages AND in computer science.

I totally pwned the GRE this morning.  I was pretty nervous, but I came out of it with an 800 (!!!!) on the quantitative section and a 680 on the verbal.  Even though this was just the general GRE and so the math was pretty basic, I'm still really proud of that 800 - it means, as far as I can tell, that I didn't miss a single question, since it's the highest possible score.  I fully expected to make a few stupid mistakes just because, well, you have to do all of the calculations by hand, and I am notorious for making tons of arithmetic errors in situations like that.

Take that, standardized testing!

I take the GRE in less than a week, and I only studied for it a bit last week, and then starting today I'm getting serious.  I had no idea how terrible my vocabulary is!  I did quite decently on the SAT, and I generally enjoy reading, so I assumed that my vocabulary would be decent enough for the GRE.  But actually, I SUCK!  Good thing I'm trying to become a computer science grad student, not an English lit grad student!

However, if you count all of the vocabulary I have in English and then add in Spanish, Chinese, and all of the random other words from other languages I know, I'm sure I know more total words than most English majors who haven't taken more than a couple of years of a foreign lanugage.  Too bad they don't have a Spanish section on the general GRE.

This pretty much sums up how I feel about golf.  Of course, I've never played, but I just think there are better sports out there.

As part of Fathers Day with my dad, he and one of my brothers and I marched in the gay pride parade downtown.  Now, none of us is gay, but my family is a member of the United Church of Christ, and they have a "float" in the parade to show that most (although possibly  not all - I'm not sure) of the member churches are "open and affirming", i.e.  specifically welcoming of all sexualities.

I felt rather out of place at first, since I'm a) straight and b) not actually a member of the UCC.  But you can be straight and still celebrate diversity and stand up for equal rights for everyone.  And while I'm not big on organized religion, I was stilled raised in the UCC and they're good people, and I like letting people out there know that not all Christians are the crazy, obnoxious ones you hear about in the religious right.  It was a lot of fun, and I got lots of walking in too.

Here was our float:



Oh yeah.  Also we got my dad a Wii.  Really, I think it was more of a family present (I don't think he'll be doing a lot of playing by himself).  But we had fun making miis and playing Wii Sports and Boom Blox.

Two finals down, one to go.  I find that while cramming may help, getting to the classroom and reading a book for the last 15 minutes before the final starts helps calm me down.  It hasn't failed me yet....but I'm not entirely sure how my final this morning went.  We shall see.

After Friday, I'm FREE!  Only one class + work this summer, plus taking the GRE in about 2 weeks.  How hard can THAT be?  (Famous last words!)

WTF, Portland?  Where's the summer lovin'?  It's 51 degrees outside!  I call foul.  I know it's not normally sunny and gorgeous this early in June, but a little warmer?  You know, in the 60's, maybe?  I hope some day soon to be able to do some homework outside instead of shut up in my house, huddled up to my computer for warmth.

Oh ye journalists, hear my plea.  Any time there is some sort of political scandal, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO ADD "GATE" TO THE END OF IT.  I don't want to hear the words "preacher-gate", "bitter-gate", "Bosnia-gate", or "Monica-gate", or any other -gate.  For the sake of my sanity, come up with something else!  Another election word that is starting to get on my nerves: "veepstakes".  So tone that down a bit too.

Thank you.  You may now return to your regularly scheduled blog-reading.

I saw The Fall yesterday with kate_fire and lil_termagant.  We made the ill-advised decision to go downtown to see a movie on the night of the Starlight Parade, but it worked out well.  The movie was awesome.  I enjoyed it more than pretty much all of the movies I've seen in theaters in the last year.  However, I've only seen half a dozen movies in theaters in the last year, so you should take that for what it is.

I've read some reviews about it since last night, and the gist seems to be, "It's pretty, but the plot and/or dialog is dumb."  Well, my response to that is "YOU'RE dumb.  Nyeah nyeah nyeah!"  I thought it was very pretty, but I also enjoyed the story and the acting and the dialog.  So I guess if you are a snobby film critic who hates all good things, you might not like it.  But if you are an awesome person who likes, well, the same things I do, you should go see it right now!  Before it's too late!  It's at Fox Tower for a little while longer...

Via geekpdx: the most adorable tiny baby pigs you've ever seen!

We completely redid our bookshelves last weekend, as well as adding another wardrobe and dresser to the bedroom.  The book cases look awesome.  I may post pictures, for those of you who are bored and like looking a pictures of book cases.

...sucks.  Terrible game selection.  We've been there twice looking for Guitar Hero for the Wii, but no luck either time.  Also they were sold out of Wii Fit as of 12:45 today, the day it came out.  I guess that might not really be their fault, if the game is that popular.  I was certainly looking forward to trying it!  Anything to allow me to get in shape in the comfort of my own home with out strangers looking at me.

On the plus side, I'm jogging again.  It's hurting my foot, but oh well.  I did almost two miles on the treadmill tonight.  The means I'm ready to try some place with actual hills!  Not big hills -just little humps, really.

I have ascertained that the pedometer on my cell phone is pretty accurate,  According to it, I walked about 10,000 steps today, or something like 4.8 miles.  This included a 2-mile walk/jog (jog down one way, then turn around and hike back up) and the long walk to and from class.    Not too bad!  My daily average (which doesn't count walking around the house or work) has tended to be in the 2,500 steps range when I don't have to walk to class from the parking garage (about a mile, or a bit more, both ways) or any sort of extra exercise like today.

Unfortunately, the FM tuner didn't work too well for jogging, although it worked just fine when I was just sitting around.  All of the movement caused lots of interference.  Oh well!  It can't be perfect.  I quite like the little guy.

Like a good consumer, I felt bad about the state of the world, so I went out and bought a new gadget.  (Actually, I'd planned on getting a new phone for months, and had planned on going on Wednesday for weeks...BUT STILL!)

I got a Sony Ericcson in a cool forest green - not really because I put lots of thought into it, just because it was the phone I liked the best in the store that was less than $100.  It turns out to be quite cool - I like it a lot (although I've had it for less than 24 hours).  It's got a nice screen, a better camera than my last phone, a stop watch, and it even has a pedometer!  (Although I'm not really sure how well that actually works.)  I haven't put any music on it yet, but I'm excited for that too.  It took about 15 hours for me to actually be able to receive calls on it, but now it's all ready to go!  Yay phones.

P.S.  Same phone number!

I don't cry easily at things like movies, TV shows, books, etc.  But this story on NPR about the earthquake in Sichuan really got to me.  At times it sounded like the reporter herself could barely hold back tears.

Tomorrow is geekpdx's birthday.  We're celebrating it tomorrow, and Saturday as well.  Sunday is my brother's birthday, my grandmother's birthday, and Mother's day.   For all of these celebrations, I have volunteered to bake cupcakes, a cheesecake, and chocolate souffle, as well as clean up the house for visitors.  And I have a program due on Tuesday that I haven't started on yet.

Let the insanity begin!

The CS department at PSU can't give me a straight answer on ANYTHING.  Can I do MECOP?  (Yes.  Well, no.  Maybe.  No.  I mean yes.)  Should I get a 2nd bachelor's degree or a masters?  (Bachelors.  No, masters.  Actually just keep up with the bachelor stuff for now and decide when you have the prerequisites for the masters program.)  They can't even tell me how to register for a special class! (Just come in and fill out a form.  No, now that you're here, you have to get written permission from the instructor first.)

When I win the lottery for hundreds of millions of dollars, I'm not donating any of it to PSU.  So there!  I bet you feel sorry now, eh?

(I actually bought lottery tickets the other day - I only meant to buy one, but was too stupid to read the "doesn't give change" sign, so my $5 bill got entirely used up in one go.  Maybe one of these days I should check to see if I won anything...)

kate_fire sent me the Star Trek + Knights of the Round Table video, which I posted here.   Then in the comments, lil_termagant posted a Star Trek + Jefferson Airplane video.  Apparently there are a lot of these out there!  Here are some of the ones I found entertaining:

White Rabbit (via lil_termagant)



I Will Survive



Closer (quite creepy, really)




I'm Too Sexy

I have found a magical cure for the pain in my right foot: high density dance pads for DDR, in concert with not jogging.  Geekpdx was keeping an eye on Fry's for special deals for me, and found a sale that included two dance pads and a new DDR game for cheap.  (Well, cheap compared to what it would normally cost, anyway.)  I've used them quite a bit in the last week or so (and by a lot I mean at least 4 hours in the last 5 days), and and I haven't jogged at all in that time.  And despite the heavy DDRing, my foot doesn't hurt at all!  I guess the dense foam in the pads works better than anything else I've tried: thin pad or hardwood floor or carpet (no shoes), or the metal pad with or without shoes.

I have a doctor's appointment about the foot on Monday and I'll still go, since I want to be able to do high-impact things without foot pain, but it looks like the worst is gone!

P.S.  Yes, this means I currently have 4 DDR pads in my house, along with 3 DDR games.  I'm not obsessed, not at all!

Today I finished Everfree, the third (an possibly final, although I don' t actually know) book in a post-apocalyptic series by Nick Sagan.  The previous books were Idlewild and Edenborn.  I don't want to say much about the premise, since the first book probably much better if you go into it not really knowing what's going on.  In fact, it starts out pretty disorienting and confusing.  But I have really liked all three books, and if you like the idea of post-apocalyptic science fiction, you'd probably like them too.

I have a bad habit of buying about 3 books at Powell's, reading one of them, and then getting stressed out with school, so I retreat back to fluffy fantasy that I've already read several times.  Then I go buy 3 more books at Powell's, despite the fact that I never read the other two that I bought last time.   Starting now: no more trips to Powell's until I finish up at least half the books I have here but haven't read yet.

Stolen from Dave Barry's column at the Miami Herald:

Q. What is an Economic Stimulus Payment?

A. It is money that the federal government will send to taxpayers.

Q. Where will the government get this money?

A. From taxpayers.

Q. So the government is giving me back my own money?

A. Only a smidgen.

Q. What is the purpose of this payment?

A. The plan is that you will use the money to purchase a high-definition TV set, thus stimulating the economy.

Q. But isn't that stimulating the economy of China?

A. Shut up.