Archive for the 'Life' Category

I have three programming classes right now. One of them is actually a class about computer history and structure. My 160 class has tons of homework and takes me hours to finish even though the material is all stuff that I already know. My 221 class is data structures and algorithms using Java and I’m learning Java as I go, so that’s a fun class. The only homework is a program due every two to three weeks. My 222 class is Assembler Language using i386. I thought it would be a pretty difficult class. The biweekly homework assignment is to read and then answer 4 questions then do a super-simple program that takes about 10 lines of code and 30 minutes to work through. So, what I’m wondering is: why is my intro class (where I’m not learning) more difficult than the more advanced classes where I am learning? Maybe it’s all in how you rate difficulty. I think the concepts learned are less advanced in the 160 class and probably anyone who was willing to do the work would get an A. You could get lost in the 221 and 222 classes and not even know where to begin, I guess.

I still think more work is harder than more advanced concepts, though.

Krissy got to work tonight on staining the entrance table a dark mahogany color. We went to Home Depot hoping to get just what we were looking for. They had the right color but we still had to buy a can of stain at least twice as big as we needed. They had smaller ones, but not for the glossy stain only for the “satin” finish. When we got home we moved the dining room table into the kitchen blocking access to the dishwasher, sink, and trash can. Now we have a pile of dishes and trash on the counter next to the sink! Let’s hope it gets even higher tomorrow.

Krissy laid out a tarp on the linoleum in front of the piano and got to work. It says to do two coats sanding after the first with a really fine-grained steel-wool. Here’s what the table looks like so far. Pictures coming soon.

I wish Dell wouldn’t use weird connectors for their laptop hard drives. I opened up an HP laptop and there was no unusual connector, it was straight IDE. Two of the laptops I have gotten from Krissy’s dad are missing the converter from IDE to some proprietary thing. Now I get to troll around on eBay and bid ninety-nine cents and pay six dollars in shipping on these things. I can’t wait for the UPS ground to get from Florida to California. Let’s see how long it takes.

Last night after we had shoveled and sifted many wheelbarrows full of dirt Krissy got to work sanding the small table we have at the entrance of our apartment. She wants to stain it a dark cherry or walnut color to match our other furniture and the white stain on it had to go. It was amazing how much effort it took even with a power sander. I think she was outside sanding of over two hours! She just doesn’t know when to quit. But, it’s mission accomplished and the sanded table is back home ready to be stained. We thought we already had stain but realized after getting home that we only have finish-restoring liquid that isn’t powerful enough to stain on its own. I guess it will just have to wait until Monday or Tuesday.

On Costco’s website they have information about the Ninendo Wii and the upcoming release. They say that you will be able to preorder it, but they don’t have it available yet. They have Red Steel and Twilight Princess available for preorder, though. I don’t want to do that, though, becasue Costco is well-known for their bundles and I want to wait and see if they are selling the Wii bundled with a game or two. I’m guessing they will bundle the Wii with Excite Truck and le tpeople buy Twilight Princess seperately, though. This is getting more and more exciting!

I just finished up a programming assignment for my Data Structures and Algorithm Development class simulating a CPU and a preemptive real-time operating system’s handling of jobs. It was relatively complex so I expected there to be a bug or two to track down when I thought I was finished coding. When I finished the last function and ran the program the output was right on! Usually I have to spend an hour tying to figure out what’s throwing the whole thing off, but not this time. What a relief. I didn’t expect to be done last night, but there I was, done.

At work someone had the great idea that everyone at work dress up like pirates. We were looking at patterns for pirate costumes when I suggested we might be able to get a costume like this put together for less than the price of the pattern and the material. Well, this got me thinking about when I want to be for Halloween. Thinking about pirates reminded me of the age old debate of which would win in a fight with a pirate against a ninja. Ninjas win hands down in my book. I still don’t know about pirate costumes, but ninja costumes are readily available and not a bad price, either. So if Krissy ends up as a pirate and I end up as a ninja then I’ll let you know who would really win in a fight!

What do you get when huge boulders are dropped into large metal trailers right outside your window at 7am every morning? If you can read the title of this post, then you know the answer is the Construction Alarm Clock! It doesn’t need to be set, and it just keeps going off no matter what you do. It will keep waking you up all the way until 4pm if you need it! It is unbelievable how loud it is.

I did some digging around and found out that there wouldn’t be very many pre-orders accepted. Then I found out that a pre-order doesn’t guarantee anything. All it does is give you a place in line on the day the Wii is released. That would have been pretty good, but the Wii is being released on a Sunday. I don’t shop on Sundays because I don’t think it’s right to make people work on Sundays. That means that a pre-order would be useless because they won’t hold a Wii system for me until Monday morning. I drove over to the local EB Games since I was right near it anyway and at 9:30am there were about 20 people in line outside the store. I thought about taking pictures, but the scene wasn’t as interesting as I was hoping for so I just left. I figure that it’s not that important to get one as soon as it comes out. I think there will be enough to go around that I should be able to get one on Monday, November 20th. Let’s cross our fingers.

From their website:

GameStop and EB Games stores will begin accepting limited pre-orders for the Nintendo Wii console on Friday, October 13, on a first come, first served basis. Due to extremely limited supply, we expect to reach our limit very quickly, most likely in minutes.

Incidentally, I have been asking about when this would happen since the beginning of this week. Last night I popped into EB Games in the mall and they said it wouldn’t happen until next week, but they then quickly added “but check back every day between now and then.” I casually asked how many systems they thought they would be getting and all the workers there got defensive and said it was against their policy to answer such questions. I’m interested to see how many people go for this pre-order. I’ll be at the local EB Games tomorrow at around 9:15 tomorrow morning. We’ll see if there are any other freaks there like me who are going to take the bait. I wonder if they will open early. They don’t normally open until 10am, I believe. I’ll bring a list of 12 local stores and their phone numbers so I can call around if the one closest to me is already out when I get there.