WildWeazel

Now blogging at www.debugging-life.net

2011-08-28T21:10:00.000-04:00

Just a friendly reminder that I am in fact blogging- consistently, if infrequently- at debugging-life.net. If anyone is still following this blog, or stumbles across it, come on over to the new one.

Here At The End of All Things

2010-11-16T00:52:00.000-05:00

And here we are. The very last post at wildweazel.net.

It has been a long and eventful six years (wow!) since I first opened this blog as "Operation Delta" during my senior year of high school. Since then I've related many personal and public events, random stories, favorite things, and some useless information. I have made major transitions: from a small town to a military academy to a big city; from aspiring fighter pilot to rising software engineer; from stereotypical "religious right" to pragmatic libertarian; from shy nerdy kid to shy nerdy 20-something. Even now, skimming through some of the older posts is a nostalgic look back at some of the most interesting times of my life.

As a blogger, I've set up my own domain, changed themes, refocused, retracted posts, picked up a few followers, and never quite blogged as much as I would like. I've written 350+ posts, in 63 different months, from 7 states and 6 schools, covering 87 topics and more than a dozen recurring series. I've posted thoughtful essays, silly memes, sarcastic one-line excuses, and everything in between. Amazingly, a few popular posts have attracted hundreds of views even years later. Dozens of readers from around the world have left over 500 comments, for which I am grateful.

To those consistent visitors, thank you for reading. I don't think anyone who follows now was around when I started, or vice versa. Part of the fun of blogging is in having a place of your own in this vast Internet that you can make into whatever you want, regardless of whether anyone else notices or cares. But it's always nice to know that your work is being found, even half a world away and months later, even if a logged page view is the only evidence that someone was ever here. If you have been following along quietly, I encourage you to leave a comment and let me know that you enjoyed the blog.

This was not my first blog, and it will not be my last. The end of this blog and beginning of my next is just another one of those transitions. I'm leaving behind one online identity and starting fresh. On November 20, the domain name wildweazel.net will expire and will no longer point to this blog. You can join me then at debugging-life.net.

The Beginning Of The End

2010-10-30T18:59:00.001-04:00

Friends and followers, there is something that you should know: WildWeazel.net's days are numbered. I have opted not to renew the domain for another year, but will instead start a new blog at a new site.

On November 20 this domain will expire and the blog with it. Shortly afterward I will begin blogging at the new domain, which I'll be announcing soon in a final debriefing post. The new blog will be much the same, but with a different focus, a different look, and a different name. Of course, this blog will still exist as wildweazel.blogspot.com as long as I maintain my associated Google account.

I've made a lot of changes here over the past 6 years, but now it's time for a bigger change. This is not the end- it is only a new beginning. I'll see you soon at the new blog.

WildWeazel Reviews Civilization V

2010-09-24T22:39:00.002-04:00

I'll get to it right after I stop playing Civ3- hold on, just one more turn....

OBTW

2010-09-20T20:18:00.002-04:00

I'm in Maryland. Living. Working. No Internets.

In Which I Come Out Alive

2010-08-08T20:36:00.002-04:00

Hello, dear Internets. The last time we spoke about my life - not counting the several instances of procrastination and guilt-posts that bespoke a desperate attempt to reconnect with the outside world - I was waist-deep in the Snowpocalypse and trying to enjoy its interruption of an otherwise overwhelming and monotonous (to the outside observer) second semester of grad school. Well, my faithful readers - I do still have readers, don't I? - I have triumphed. I have completed Carnegie Mellon's Master of Science in Information Technology - Software Engineering program.

Veni, Vidi, Vici.

I'm not officially a CMU alum yet - the grades are not applied until Tuesday and conferment of degrees comes sometime soon after that - but my work here is finished. Final presentations for the 2-semester team practicum projects were on Thursday, followed by an all-nighter with a research paper for my independent study. I'm still waiting for some complete citations from the library so I can fix the bibliograohy, but I've already submitted the paper for grading. My other two semester grades are already posted, and my GPA is such that I'm in good shape as long as I pass the independent study for my last elective credit (not that I'm concerned about that).

I'm a free man. Except for that $100k in student debt, but that's another story.

Since I never introduced my final semester, as I like to do each time around, I'll give a brief rundown from the other side:

Practicum II (24 units): A continuation of the team software project that began in the spring semester, but with doubled time. We built and delivered our product to a very happy client, then took some minor thrashing from the faculty at our presentation.
Seminar in Software Process (9 units): A literature-based course on all aspects of software processes and improvement, project management, organization structure and culture, and other manager-y things taught by one of the authors of the SEI's Software CMM.
Independent Study on Reusable Software Requirements (12 units): This was a spin-off of my very part-time research work from the previous semesters, which dried up along with the grant money in June. I wrote a paper for the SEI, as mentioned, which didn't turn out as well as I had hoped so I'm probably not going to share it.

And that was my summer. There were also some fun times, as I was taking fewer units than before and my colleagues were more proactive in making life suck less. Paintball, white water rafting, Kennywood theme park, and lots of birthday cakes highlighted the summer months. I also got more involved in the church that I had been attending and made some new friends there. Overall I'd say it was an "eh" to the previous "abandon hope all ye who enter here" even though it got ~~a little busy~~ miserable in the last few weeks. I'm still trying to recover myself and my apartment from the total lack of attention to anything but work, which nearly tore my feeble mind asunder.

Not only did I complete my very-last-semester-ever-I-swear-it but I also secured the next stage of my professional life - a real job with a real company that gives real paychecks for real work. My first attempt in the fall got me all the way through an on-site interview before being rejected, only to see three classmates get offers from the same company months later. It seems that the team-based engineering/management experience of the practicum was a major selling point, which I had lacked at the time.

Anyway, again in the spring I hit up another job fair and had a few phone interviews. I was invited out to Germantown, Maryland right away after a 30-minute discussion with a team manager at Digital Receiver Technology, Inc. Soon after my site visit I was offered a level 2 software engineering position, which I accepted. DRT is a smallish systems engineering company that manufactures and writes software for DSP-based network communication devices. I'll be developing the front-end applications (GUI) for the PCs that the devices connect to.

Back to the present: I'm now on the brink of a month-long lull, during which I'm visiting Germantown to find a (vastly overpriced) place to live, then flying to Daytona to see some long lost friends and bum around on the beach, then coming back "home" to Ohio for a yay-I'm-getting-on-with-my-life party, before moving on to MD for good and starting my career. That nearly run-on sentence nicely fits how my immediate future is looking at the moment.

But the point is, I'm finished with college.

Top 10: Other James Bond Movies That Never Made It

2010-07-26T22:20:00.002-04:00

You know, with all this talk about the next Bond movie being canceled, an uninformed person might think that this was the first time 007 didn't deliver. Little do they know that even the world's most famous spy can't complete all his missions. Here are the top 10 other James Bond movies that never made it:

10. The Man With The Ordinary 9mm
9. Dr. Sure-Why-Not
8. License To Carry In Some States
7. Tomorrow Isn't Here Yet, But We're Pretty Sure It Will Only Last 24 Hours
6. Normal People Typically Only Live Once, But For You We'll Make An Exception
5. The World Is Plenty, Thank You
4. From The Darfur-Chad Border With Love
3. The Spy Who Seduced Me For International Secrets
2. Come To Think Of It, Today Is A Fine Day To Die
1. Quantum of Solace

Formspring.me: If you could go back in time 10 years and tell your younger self something, what would it be?

2010-06-23T22:10:00.000-04:00

Another answer from my profile at http://www.formspring.me/WildWeazel

OH MAN, so many things. First I'd tell me I haven't screwed up too bad, so take this as a challenge to do better and not a prophecy of doom because I'd probably be thinking I was humanity's last hope for survival or something if I went back in time to tell myself stuff. I'd tell me all about the crap that's going to happen in the next 10 years so that I could either change it which would then prevent me from telling me about it thus creating a logical paradox and breaking universal causality and possibly the nature of space-time itself, or just be all like "this is about to happen" right before it does just to freak people out. I'd tell myself to SNTG and don't worry about the ladies because it's 10 years from then and my princess is still in another castle. I'd tell myself that I don't even want to be in the Air Force anyway so just give the whole thing a break, take it from myself I've already learned the lesson. I'd tell me about some lives I could save and some bad decisions I could change. I'd tell me to screw it and vote for whoever I want to because McCain isn't going win anyway so if you're going to vote for a loser vote for the best one. I'd tell me not to get too worked up about Dead Man's Chest or Eagle Eye because they're going to be disappointing, but The Return of the King and The Bourne Ultimatum are going to be freaking awesome so get excited. Then I'd tell me some major spoilers just to ruin something for me. I'd explain to me that if I enjoyed college then getting a master's degree is the best way to ruin that sentiment, but do it anyway because it will be worth it. I'd tell me that Civilization III really is going to be the best game ever, so play it a lot while I have the chance. I'd admonish me to make my relationship with Christ my top priority and not let other competing interests get in the way and push me to lukewarm spirituality, because things like GPAs and book critiques that I'm supposed to be writing and internet questionnaires that I'm filling out instead aren't going to matter much in the long run. I'd tell me to keep running and strive to maintain my fitness, because it will make me feel better about myself and make prepping for that half marathon a lot easier. I'd tell me to make the most of every day, cherish each moment, and don't waste time existing when there is plenty of living to do out there. I'd ask me to remember everything I've told me so that in 10 years I can look back and say that I've made the most of me, because life is short and it's not often that I get a 10-year heads up to get it right.
But mostly, I'd just want to give myself a high-five because seriously, who does that?

Formspring.me: What's the craziest, epic dream you've ever had?

2010-06-06T15:33:00.002-04:00

formspring.me is a website that lets people ask and answer questions to each other, anonymously or by name. I was asked this question after alluding to it in a previous answer, and thought that it was too good to pass up. Feel free to answer this question of yourself, or ask me more questions in the formspring widget in the right column or on my profile at http://www.formspring.me/wildweazel. I make an attempt to answer every question directed to me as best I can. And now, the Answer:

My most crazy epic dream was actually an incremental series of recurring dreams about an endless journey. For real. So I was a kid, maybe 6-8 years old, and I had a thing for exploring. The woods, the nearby roads, maps, whatever. I'm still kind of that way, but anyway: I kept having these dreams about being on some journey.

It began at my great-grandfather's house, under a huge tree at the end of his yard where (in the real world) I liked to stand and look down the hill through the woods towards my own house. I used to wander around the edges of the forest, wishing I could go home off-road, or just see what else was out there. That's probably where these dreams came from.

Well, in the dreams I set off from there in some kind of raft. Yeah, that's right, random river out of nowhere. I was with a few companions, but I have no idea now who they were or if they were even anyone in particular. I think they were kids too. There were even people there to say goodbye and wish us luck.

So we set off on this raft down the river, following what should have been a nearby main road, through the neighborhood, passing beyond where I had actually seen and into the unknown. I felt like I knew why I was doing it, but never consciously knew where I was going.

After we left the familiar world, we went through many scenes purely from my imagination, first somewhat familiar country, then into forests and mountains and even a vast marsh. At some point we left the raft and the river and traveled on foot, carrying our modest gear with us. We went on and on for what must have been months in dream-time, never knowing what lay ahead but always with some subconscious destination in mind.

As I would have these dreams again and again, I would constantly see new scenes and often relive summaries of the previous episodes, like at the opening of a TV series. But each time there was more, we had gone farther, and were a little closer to wherever it was we were going.

Finally, after months or even years of these dreams, the journey came to an end. We were hiking through some hills and came to a crest where we could see a majestic coastline spread out before us. The hills rose into steep mountains encircling a vast harbor. Beyond the mouth of the harbor, between two high peaks, we could see the open sea. "Look, there it is." I or someone said. "The sea." There was a sense of finality to it, and yet awestruck wonder at the unknown. We kept moving. It was getting dark, and the sky was purple. The dark water stretched out to the horizon, and the surface was calm. We could feel the sea breeze and taste the salty air.

As we approached the harbor, we could see two ships at the shore. We knew, somehow, that they had been waiting for us, and we were going to board them. We knew that we would sail out across the sea to some truly unknown destination, never to return. As we prepared to board the boats, I stood on the beach and looked out past the mountains at the endless water, wondering how anything could be out there, beyond it. It was the most epic thing I had ever felt.

And then the dream ended. Our journey was over, and I never dreamed about it again. True story.

A Petition For The Redress Of Grievances, I

2010-03-22T11:46:00.002-04:00

Part of a work in progress. Hopefully my American readers at least will recognize what this is.

----------------------

More than two centuries ago our forefathers brought forth from the bonds of tyranny a new nation built on the precepts of liberty and justice, a confederation of thirteen states, united but sovereign, self-governed by the sovereign people thereof. The founders held these truths to be self-evident,

that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights;

that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness;

that government is instituted among men to secure these rights by the consent of the governed;

that whenever any government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government.

New government was thus established to these ends, being founded on the personal liberty and self-governance of the people, with an appeal to God for protection and blessing. This government, being called the greatest experiment in the history of the world, was conceived with utmost caution and set forth in a Constitution, acting by design to best secure the blessings of liberty against the laws of human nature and the pattern of history.

Alas, the history of civilization has shown time and again that no human enterprise is exempt from the flaws and failures of human nature. The founders recognized that mankind are disposed to fall back into complacency rather than guard against the encroachment of liberty, and to suffer evils while they may be suffered rather than rise up and abolish the status quo. Indeed, it is natural that some degree of tolerance be afforded for the tendencies of human nature, lest conflict and chaos arise at every turn; it is assumed that no system may be ideal, and that for the sake of peace and stability long-established forms should not be changed for transient causes.

15 Minutes of Fame

2010-02-24T00:13:00.000-05:00

I don't "crosspost" from my friends' blogs often, but this is worth sharing. My good friend Amber is a very talented craftswoman and a huge fan of Star Wars. Put those together, and what do you get? Awesome homemade character dolls. Observe:

The cuddliest six-limbed death robot you'll see all day.

Yes, she made that with her bare hands. She has been working on these for months, and this is her third complete doll. I'm not really into Star Wars- or crocheting, for that matter- but I recognize talent when I see it. Apparently I'm not the only one who was impressed. The post got shared, Buzzed, Tweeted, re-blogged, word spread, and soon someone at Lucasfilm took notice. The editor of StarWars.com contacted her for an email interview to be posted on the website. Needless to say, she's like a kid in a.... Star Wars convention.

This is what the blogosphere is all about- sharing things that matter to us, hoping that someone takes an interest. For many, that's a small group of friends. For a few, it's a chance at a brief flash of Internet fame. It looks like Amber will get her 15 minutes.

Top 10: Names for my purely hypothetical bands

2010-02-14T01:04:00.000-05:00

Not that I'd ever start a band. I have all the musical talent of a baboon in a tool shed, and my lifelong aspiration of learning to play the guitar would probably be a lesson in self-humiliation. However, were it ever to happen, I wouldn't have to worry about choosing a name. Props if you can find the joke or reference behind each name.

10. Autotune (pop/electronic)

9. Wrong Foot Forward (dance)

8. Creative Uncommons (parody)

7. WildWeazel and the Cool Dudes (retro)

6. Tossing Tiaras (CCM)

5. Steel City (alternative)

4. Unending Saga (hardcore)

3. Going Nowhere (punk)

2. Shredded Cheddar (metal)

1. De Oppresso Liber (hard rock)

SNOW'd

2010-02-08T00:50:00.001-05:00

In case you've been preoccupied with other things like sportsball games: it snowed. A lot.

In the aftermath of what is being called "the worst blizzard since '93", "one of the biggest winter storms on record", and "a crap ton of snow", Pittsburgh is kind of a mess. A very cold, very white mess.

My department was planning to go skiing (read: snowboarding) Saturday, but it got postponed by a day after a foot of snow was predicted in the mountains and the bus company got cold feet.

On Friday night several of us went to a restaurant across the street for a birthday party. A few inches of snow had just fallen suddenly, so the road and sidewalk were already a mess. The temperature had dropped well below freezing so the falling snow was like tiny ice crystals. We watched it come down hard for the next few hours, until at 11:00 the employees kicked us out so they could go home before it got any worse. We all went out into the deserted street and had a snowball fight before parting ways. At this point there was nearly 6 inches on the ground and it was still falling. Bus and shuttle service has been suspended, so a few opted to hold out in the "Cave" while the rest of us marched home Bear Grylls style.

I woke up late Saturday morning to find over a foot of snow outside. Cars were buried, trees were down, and streets were barely recognizable. Assuming that we would still be skiing the next day, I didn't bother going out in it. It wasn't going anywhere soon. Then the trip was postponed again, until next weekend, because all of the surrounding counties had declared a state of emergency and so the buses could not operate.

Today I ventured out and walked to the only church I thought I could get to. By my best estimate, we have about 12-16 inches. None of the roads have been cleared, and most sidewalks have only narrow stomped paths. The temperature has been well below freezing so the snow is perfectly preserved. There is very little traffic on the roads but plenty of people are out walking and many businesses are open.

That doesn't include Carnegie Mellon. Due to the still dangerous road conditions, city officials urged universities to cancel classes tomorrow. CMU complied, after having initially issued an announcement that we would be returning to normal operation. That makes this a surprise 3-day weekend, and my first ever college snow day! So while you're all trudging through "Super Bowl Monday", I'll be wading through Schenley Park.

By the way, the weather forecast claims sub-freezing temperatures all week, accompanied by snow, snow, and snow on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, respectively.

Top 10: Screwed Up Ideas From Legion

2010-01-20T19:08:00.000-05:00

If you haven't heard about the upcoming "sci-fi" horror movie Legion, consider yourself fortunate. Hollywood has long had a fascination with twisting the image of Christ and Christianity, but this one takes the distortion to a whole new level. Just from the trailer and a short plot summary on Wikipedia, I can infer the following "doctrines" behind the movie:

10. The final judgment will be a physical extermination by angels (Revelation 20:12)
9. Angels can be destroyed by humans (2 Kings 19:35)
8. Christ's second coming will be another physical birth (1 Thessalonians 4:16)
7. Christ's return is not guaranteed (Revelation 22:12-13)
6. God is not omnipotent or fully sovereign (Jeremiah 32:27)
5. God and Christ can be in conflict (John 6:38)
4. God changes and may break his promises (Hebrews 6:16-18)
3. God is evil, or at least not wholly good (Deuteronomy 32:4)
2. God's love is not eternal or unconditional (Isaiah 54:10)
1. Paul Bettany is capable of portraying the archangel Michael (Revelation 12:7-8)

Negligent Blogocide

2010-01-18T22:47:00.001-05:00

HOLY CRAPS, it's 2010! Still waiting for that flying car.

A new year, a new decade, a new semester, finally a new post. This may be a non-blogging record for me.

It has recently come to my attention that I have not posted anything to my blog for quite a long span of time (in Internet reckoning) or indeed given my few anxious readers any indication that I am in fact still alive. 'Alive' is an ambiguous term, which I here use in the biological sense, in that my body is in fact metabolizing.

Other than that, what have I been up to since my last real post 5 months ago? Well, a lot. As I pointed out then, I was about to undertake a brutal academic gauntlet of courses, projects, and gnashing of teeth. I managed to survive the first semester, rumored to be the worst- except for the other two which are just as bad.

I'll save you the gory details, but let's just say that it was an intense 4 months. While most grad students take a course load of about 8 credits, we take the equivalent of 17 (51 "units"). That's more than I ever took as an undergraduate, plus I have a (very) part-time research assistantship with CMU's CyLab and the Software Engineering Institute to help with financial things like feeding myself. It was all fairly interesting stuff, but 70 hours per week is more than I care to spend on academics. My courses included 3 of the core MSE courses: Managing Software Development, Methods: Deciding What to Design, and Formal Models of Software Systems. I also took an elective Usable Privacy and Security, and a lamentably required technical communications course (being the only native English speaker in my branch of the program) which amounted to little more than English Grammar Quirks, Editing Tips, and Tangential Etymology.Thus was my demise. Somehow I managed to pull it all off with a 3.5 term GPA and a bit of income.

In the meantime I also grew a beard in recognition of No Shave November, an event which is unique in that it actually takes less time and effort to participate than not. It all started on Halloween, when on a sudden impulse I decided to become Chuck Bartowski. I shaved my entire face for the first time in 4 years, just before November 1- the perfect setup for an entire month of unregulated beardage. Why, you ask? Because it's manly. And to top it all off, I removed it in stages to produce several varieties of beard in the process, then shaved my head as well. (It grew back already.)

This was soon followed by Christmas break, wherein I retrained myself to sleep and be lethargic. I even got in a couple games of Civ3 and some serious Mount&Blade action. It actually worked all too well, despite my initial difficulty in reminding myself that I had nothing in particular to do. "Nothing to do" actually sums up the whole vacation quite well, as it was one of the most uneventful 3 weeks in recent memory. In fact I could probably describe everything I did in a single 140-character tweet:

eat, sleep, gaming, Avatar, movie marathon, friend's wedding in TN, visit friend in hosp, buy Xmas gifts 12/23, stock up on food, return 1/9

Yep, that just about does it. The wedding in Tennessee and surrounding road trip was by far the most noteworthy event of it all, but I will not go into detail. As indicated, I came back to the Pittsburgh last weekend just in time for classes to resume.

And that brings us to 2010 and the second-worst semester of them all. I'm starting to wonder if the only real difference is that this time around we have the confidence of knowing that we've already survived it once. If I can manage, I'll follow up with a brief rundown of this semester's torments and maybe some other posts that don't remind me of my unfortunate plight.

If it doesn't kill you, it will only kill your blog.

OBTW HAI GUYS IZ ME

2009-11-14T23:59:00.000-05:00

I'm using Chrome as my primary browser now, and it uses my other Google account by default, which I use for school. I've migrated or shared most of my information to that account so I can browse seamlessly. That means that when I visit Blogger blogs, I'm already signed in to that account. All of this is simply to say that if Travis Christian leaves a comment on your blog as if he's expected company, it's just me being lazy.

Also, an explanation of my absence is forthcoming.

This is called foreshadowing

2009-08-24T01:10:00.000-04:00

Ok, so in case you are still unaware, there is a little detail of my life that has changed recently: I'm in Pittsburgh! I've been here for just under a week now. The fall semester, and the MSIT program, starts tomorrow. According to all survivors, it's a brutal 12 months. As they say, the first semester is the worst and then the next one is just as bad. That being said, my blogging activity- irregular as it is already- may drop off sharply for quite some time. I already have a lot to say about Pittsburgh and CMU, but I may not have the time to put any of it into coherent sentences. Meanwhile, Twitter will likely be a much more regular and informative account of what I'm up to and whether I'm still alive. I've been taking some pictures of interesting sights around Pittsburgh which I'll try to post at some point. Until then, remember your favorite grad student. Morituri te salutant!

Unveiling

2009-08-07T01:45:00.002-04:00

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST MAY CONTAIN INFORMATION UNSUITABLE FOR THE TECHNICALLY IMPAIRED

Two weeks ago now I got my birthday/graduation/grad-school/next-3-Christmases-in-advance/don't-ask-for-a-loan-anytime-soon heavily subsidized present, a new laptop. I'm required to have one at CMU and the old Compaq just wasn't fit for service anymore.

Since I had a reasonably good desktop already I started out small, considering decent low-end "home and office" machines and even some of the more powerful netbooks. I decided that if I was getting a new computer I might as well get something that's going to last and is worth keeping around for a while. Also, my parents had offered to pay for most of it as a combination birthday and graduation present, so I wasn't limited by the amount of money I was personally willing to shell out. At that point I started seriously comparing good mid-range models from Newegg, dealnews, and Staples. I had narrowed my choices down to a few similar models, and decided to take a look at the display models at Staples before making a decision.

To make a long story short, in the end I threw budget out the window and acquired a very nice HP via Staples, after some advice and inspiration from the extremely helpful managers. The HDX 16t Premium is one of HP's multimedia entertainment lines. This machine is a beast. My particular loadout, the 1370US, features the following:

Core 2 Duo P7750 2.26GHz CPU
4GB DDR2 RAM
16" BrightView Infinity display (1366x768)
NVIDIA GT 130M 1Gb dedicated card
500Gb 7200RPM ProtectSmart HDD
DVD Super-multi drive with Lightscribe
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit SP1

And that's not all. It includes lots of little goodies like an integrated webcam, bass speaker, soft-touch media controls, fingerprint scanner, full keyboard, Windows Media Center remote control, Wireless-N and Bluetooth, e-SATA and card reader, bundled media software (polished HP products, with minimum third-party bloatware) and a stylish scratch-resistant surface. This machine makes my previous laptop, a solid mid-range in its day, seem absolutely primitive.

Take a look at that graphics chip again. With a model number ending in -30, I assumed it was a fairly low-end card and was puzzled by the fact that it comes with a full gigabyte of dedicated memory. Imagine my surprise and joy when I discovered that the GT 130M is actually a slightly overclocked 9650M GT, one of the most powerful mobile cards on the market. This thing plays Oblivion completely maxed out, although I've been using my cooling pad while doing so. I never would have thought my new laptop would beat out my desktop in every regard, but even my 9500GT is no match for this thing. I'm debating whether to even haul my desktop to school with me, since by the time I transfer my files there won't be any benefit to using it over the laptop.

Of course, as fantastic as this machine was out of the box, I'm not one to leave anything in its original state. I spent the first week leeching free wi-fi where I could get it, downloading all of my favorite free software and tweaking just about every setting I could manage to find the in labyrinth of Vista. It's now triple-booting Vista, the Windows 7 RC, and Kubuntu Linux 9.04, all 64-bit editions. I've installed various apps, tools, IDEs, and plugins ranging from FireFox to Eclipse to Trillian Astra, and those only in the Windows partitions. I haven't managed to get Linux online yet, as I'm still a newbie with regards to hardware configuration and don't know how to connect to a wireless network without downloading an application to do so (as they say, you need Internet to get Internet). That may have to wait until I get back to the civilized world and can plug into Ethernet.

By the way, I can't get online with it at all at home, because it doesn't have a dialup modem. Such technologies no longer exist out there in the real world. Aside from that, my only complaint thus far is that it doesn't seem to have adequate cooling for such a powerful video card- as I mentioned, I keep it on an external fan while running games, and it still gets very warm to the touch.

All in all, I'm very happy with this laptop. When I carried it to a friend's house for the initial boot-up and configuration we were like kids in a candy shop. It may be overkill for a second college computer, but it's going to last me a good long time. And for $850, it was a good deal even on such an advanced model.

On the Virtues of Civilization, Part 3

2009-07-16T23:30:00.000-04:00

In Part 2 I described my introduction to the Civilization series. At this point, I've been playing Civ1 for a few years and have a serious case of "(Just) One More Turn Syndrome".

Since I didn't start playing Civ until around the time Civilization II was released, I missed the sequel. Instead, my next Civilization game was Civilization: Call to Power, a spin-off by Activision. In 7th grade I received CtP as a reward for making it to the oral rounds of the regional spelling bee. This time I got the whole product, including the large tech tree and statistics poster, and the official strategy guide, both of which were put to good use. CtP immediately became my new favorite game, and although I occasionally went back to Civ for the sake of nostalgia I enjoyed CtP much more.

Call to Power introduced many new concepts, especially to a Civ1 player. Public works improvements, unconventional warfare including slavery and propaganda, undersea and space cities and improvements, and combined arms combat all added depth to the game. A wide variety of civilizations, units, and buildings rounded out the options, ensuring that no two games could ever be the same.

I only vividly remember one game, playing as Germany on a large and populated map. I had built Berlin into the greatest city in the world, probably to the detriment of the rest of my nation. I owned a large portion of a major continent, but was locked into a stalemate with Canada on a peninsula to my southeast. For some reason I never rebuilt a major invasion force after my initial land grab, but resorted to extended stealth-bombing and ground skirmishes. Meanwhile, Brazil owned most or all of another continent in the north, and after establishing itself as a world power had continued to strengthen until none dared oppose it. It seemed content to peacefully enjoy an exponential increase in power, until I finally got frustrated at the near-impossibility of actually winning the game and decided to attack. I built several nukes and launched them adjacent to several Brazilian cities (to avoid being intercepted by the overpowered War Walkers who automatically shot down incoming air units), only to be put into my place a few turns later as hordes of Hovertanks skimmed across the ocean onto my lawn.

Speaking of War Walkers and Hovertanks, CtP had some crazy mixed in with its ingenuity. I was all for the extended future eras and expanded gameplay, but units like Eco Rangers and Televangelists were a bit on the eccentric side, and the deep-future technologies felt tack-ed on just for the cool value. Overall though, it was a well-designed and attractive product. It easily kept me entertained and addicted for the next year and a half, until the best game ever made was released.

Reading List

2009-07-14T15:40:00.002-04:00

In the past several months I've started reading books again, something I haven't been doing much since being in college. I've gotten through a few already, but there are many more. Here is a current list of what I've recently read, what I'm reading now, and what is yet to be read:

Completed:
The Noticer by Andy Andrews
Holding Fast by Karen James
Eragon and Eldest by Christopher Paolini
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe, and Life, The Universe, And Everything by Douglas Adams

In Progress/Incomplete:
The Old Testament
Brisingr by Christopher Paolini
The Reason For God by Timothy Keller
So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish by Douglas Adams
The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien (re-reading)
The Children of Hurin by JRR Tolkien

To Read:
Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams
The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis (last 2? books)
The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien
Dune series by Frank Herbert (minus Dune, which I've read)
The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan
Discworld series by Terry Pratchett
A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R R Martin
The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind
Shannara series by Terry Brooks
Redwall series by Brian Jacques (most recent books)
Dies the Fire series by SM Stirling
Common Sense by Glenn Beck
1984 by George Orwell
Freedom Under Siege by Ron Paul
Essential Church? by Thom and Sam Rainer
The Seven Sleepers series by Gilbert Morris
American Savior by Roland Merullo
The Rapture and Kingdom Come by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Darwin's Black Box by Michael J Behe
The Language of God by Francis Collins
Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis
The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges
The Case For Christ by Lee Strobel

My list seems to be dominated by sci-fi/fantasy series, which tend to involve many thousands of pages. This should keep me busy for a couple of years, at least. If you have any suggestions to add- or even remove- please comment.

House of Heroes, And More

2009-07-13T02:08:00.000-04:00

So, as you may or may not know, Friday was my 22nd birthday. For months I had been planning to go to SpiritSong at Kings Island to see Kutless (at least) in concert, but due to an unfortunate combination of poor planning and poor friends, it didn't work out. However, I heard about a House of Heroes concert at a church near where my sister lives so we planned to do that instead. Someone decided it would be a good idea for the whole family to go to the Columbus Zoo on the same day. I still couldn't get my friends to go along, but at least I was able to do something out of the ordinary on my birthday.

The concert was not exactly what I was expecting- it was better. There were only a couple hundred people there, which meant anyone who wanted to (which was most everyone) was able to stand within about 15 feet of the stage. One of the announcers from TVU promised us that the people at SpiritSong were the ones who were missing out. A band from Kentucky called Seabird opened with several songs. Then finally House of Heroes. They were quite a bit louder and more intense live than I would have thought from their recorded songs, which was fine with me. I joined the crowd at the stage, rocked out, and sang along with the songs I knew, mostly from The End Is Not The End.

At one point between songs they stopped to ask where people were from. It went something like this:
"Who here is from Johnstown proper?"
"As opposed to... improper."
*a few hands and yells*
"Anyone from New Albany?"
*several hands and scattered screaming*
"Anyone from regular Albany... also known as old Albany"
*me yelling*

Good times. The concert ended with "In The Valley Of The Dying Sun", which seemed to be a favorite.

Also, thanks to the Google homepage, I now know that I share a birthday with Nikola Telsa!

The Lord of the Rings: Recast

2009-07-08T23:31:00.000-04:00

The Lord of the Rings was a great movie* and all, but like many Tolkien fans I think it could have been done better. Unlike the rest of them, I think it could have used more superstardom and outlandish, over-the-top screenwriting. Therefore, I've re-cast LotR for a more unabashedly awesome remake:

Director Michael Bay
Because that mile-high explosion of Mount Doom and the subsequent geological collapse of an entire region just wasn't enough.

Chuck Norris as Aragorn
"Strider does not sleep. He waits." A duel with an enormous troll would be more believable.

Mort the lemur of Madagascar as Frodo
Because, just perhaps, he could convey the role of being a self-pitying wuss a little better.

The guy(s)(?) who voiced the other unicorns in "Charlie the Unicorn" as Sam
"Mr Frodo! Mr Frodo! Mr Frodo! We're going to Mount Doom, Mr Frodo!"

Mr T as Boromir
He pities the fool who simply walks into Mordor.

Kevin Bacon as Legolas
Got to keep the degrees of separation low.

John McCain as Theoden
Creepy, cranky old zombie of a guy as head of state? Check.

Samuel L Jackson as Eomer
"Enough is enough! I have had it with these mother-russian orcs on this mother-russian plain!"

Dwight Schrute as The Mouth of Sauron
Assistant ~~to the~~ Dark Lord

Russel Crowe as Saruman
Why not? You can't go wrong with Crowe.

Johnny Depp as Grima Wormtongue
Imagine the political advice: "No. You want you to not do this, because the not doing of this finds you incapacitorially finding and or locating in your discovering the detecting of a way to save your kingdom. Savvy?"

Keanu Reeves as Celeborn
Hey, at least he would have a bit more personality

The Black Knight of Monty Python and the Holy Grail as Lurz
Nobody else can lose limbs and keep acting.

Wilson of Home Improvement as Glorfindel the Strangely Absent
Because we never see him.

There are still roles available, so audition now!

*Like the book, I think of it as a single movie in 3 parts rather than a trilogy. It's a well-documented fact.

Book Review: The American Patriot's Bible

2009-07-06T00:40:00.001-04:00

I could not think of a better time to review this book, my third from Thomas Nelson. The American Patriot's Bible, edited by Dr Richard G. Lee, is a NKJV translation, filled with historical commentary and excerpts that highlight the influence of scripture in the shaping of America.

When I requested this Bible I was concerned that it may overreach in its pairing of Christian thought with the founding of America; that it might portray the USA as the new Israel or a wholly Christian establishment. As it turns out I was quite impressed. The additional content highlights the unmistakable Biblical foundations of American political and social philosophy, without asserting any inherent spiritual significance to this country or suggesting that the founding of America was a solely Christian endeavor. It does show many examples of how Christian values and godly people shaped the history of America. At a time when much of our culture and government is trying to deny and even erase these ideas, it has never been more important to remember this nation's origins and from where our liberty and justice are derived.

Most of the editorial content is in the form of essays on various political and social topics that point out the underlying Biblical philosophies of many American values. These essays, as well as collections of relevant quotes by famous Americans, are found in special full-color insert pages throughout the Bible, often tied in to the themes of the surrounding chapters. Short annotated quotes are found within the text, relating a specific verse or phrase to a piece of American history. One article, "The Seven Principles of the Judeo-Christian Ethic", seems somewhat contrived and a bit out of place, coming before even the introduction. It does however contain a statement that perhaps best sums up the reason for this edition: "Whether each of the Founding Fathers was a Christian is not the issue. Their writings, their statements, and their votes evidence the fact that the majority of them embraced these great principles as the basis for a civilized nation."

Note that this is not a study Bible as some are calling it, although it does include thorough book introductions and a decent concordance- as well as other additional features, such as maps and room for family records, that I was surprised to find.

Independence

2009-07-02T23:28:00.000-04:00

To commemorate this historic day- the 233rd anniversary of America's independence- I'd like to share an excerpt from Chuck Baldwin's column "Independence Now And Forever":

Regarding the signing of the Declaration of Independence, John Adams said, "[Independence Day] will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the Day of Deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore."

Adams went on to say, "You will think me transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the gloom I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory; I can see that the end is more than worth all the means, that posterity will triumph in that day's transaction, even though we should rue it, which I trust in God we shall not."

Indeed, the signers of America's Declaration of Independence endured the sacrifice of both toil and blood. Pertaining to the lives of the signers, David Limbaugh writes, "Of those 56 who signed the Declaration of Independence, nine died of wounds or hardships during the war. Five were captured and imprisoned, in each case with brutal treatment. Several lost wives, sons or entire families. One lost his thirteen children. Two wives were brutally treated. All were at one time or another the victims of manhunts and driven from their homes. Twelve signers had their homes completely burned. Seventeen lost everything they owned."

Yes, America's Declaration of Independence, which is our nation's birth certificate, was purchased at a very high price. Rightly did its primary author, Thomas Jefferson, invoke God's name no less than four times in the Declaration. Without God, our struggle for independence and freedom would surely have failed.

Jefferson, along with the vast majority of America's founders, knew that freedom was, first, the gift of God, not the accomplishment of men. He further understood that man's law must be subordinate to the natural laws of God.

Therefore, with an appeal to Heaven for the "rectitude of [their] intentions," America's Founding Fathers courageously forged a document that would put their own lives at risk, but would also change the course of history.

Let us never forget the price- and the blessings- of liberty.

On the Virtues of Civilization, Part 2

2009-06-30T23:36:00.003-04:00

In the previous post I explained the reason for this topic and briefly described the Civilization franchise. Let's continue.

I started playing computer games not long after my family got our first computer, when I was about 6 or 7. First it was the simple Windows 3.1 games like Mosaic and Minesweeper, then commercial games. SimTower was the first game I (and by "I", I mean "my parents, on my behalf") bought, and I quickly became a fan of Will Wright's games.

When I bought SimCity a few years later, which by then had already been around for a while, it came packaged with another game, just a CD case laminated on the front of the box, which I had never heard of. I set this one aside, eager to play the venerable SimCity. To my dismay, I could not get the game to run despite my best efforts at playing around with different system and game settings (my hacking started early), so I reluctantly turned to this free copy of "Civilization" (Civ1 DOS, for those interested) to ease my frustration.

It worked, and I spent much of the following months forgetting that I ever wanted to play Sim City. I don't remember the details of my first game, but I have plenty of memories of learning how to play- deciding that I should build additional cities before being surrounded by rivals; experimenting with diplomacy, which was then done via Diplomat units; discovering that a Trireme is a boat, and that I could now explore other landmasses; my first victory as Russia on the Earth map in which I city-spammed my way to dominance and then conquered the world; and saving all of my progress on a growing stack of floppy disks. To this day, the (now extremely rare) sound of a floppy disk writing makes me think of Civilization.

And so it came to pass that I developed a serious case of what we civvers affectionately call "One More Turn Syndrome" at such a young age. The arrival of Civilization: Call to Power did little to ease my affliction.

Continued in Part 3