7.31.2003
9:55 PM
SCREEN SAVERS SPECTACULAR
Today was visit #2 to the TechTV Studios to see another taping of The Screen Savers. The content of this show was MUCH much better than the last show I went to. Saved me some extra cash too. Pat was putting together a PC for about $500 and it just so happened that the MOBO is the exact same one I'm getting, and the processor is quite similar. I learned that NewEgg.com, while a great place to shop, is not the best place for bargains. I also learned that a 350 watt power supply won't do it for my computer. Overall, it was a good show. I didn't win the "Hard Drive Game", but I got yet another PC Cam, and I got some good advice from Pat himself. Next time, though, (and YES, there will be a next time) a.) I'm sneaking in a camera, no matter what they say. I gotta get a picture with Pat and Leo, b.) I'm buying Leo's Tech Almanac so I have something for him and the others to sign, c.) I'll get advice from Leo, d.) I'll try to get something else other than a webcam. geez, i got too many! I hope I'll get some screenshots soon. We'll see how it goes.
Guess what? No 3-hour drive to Wente tomorrow! YEA!!!!
7.30.2003
11:01 PM
RANDOM BUSY-NESS
Today, I woke up and transferred all the websites to cmbc-web.org. That was cool. It's working. haha. I then went and picked up my broken sandals from a shoe place. They've been there almost a month. I went to CompUSA and picked up some open box computer parts. I came back and did the slideshow for S.O.S. Afterwards, I ate, washed dishes, and did absolutely nothing.
Right now, I'm scanning all 65,535 TCP ports on my computer for invulnerabilities! how fun! (sarcastic tone). And the best part is I haven't done homework for 2 days and I probably won't get anything done tomorrow either! Oh, and did I mention, I have to drive 3 1/2 hours up to Willits on Friday and 3 1/2 hours back to pick up my brother at Wente? Then I have to run S.O.S.
tomorrow's The Screen Savers. What a way to keep me focused on schoolwork. me lazy already
7.29.2003
7:31 PM
YO, YO
What I need is a Christian sister next to me
(Standing next to me sis)
To share the faith that I believe
(When I worship on each Sunday)
Maybe we can start a Bible study
(I wanna see your Christian ways, yea)
Someone who's going to Heaven, worshipping 24/7
This is what I need
-I Need a Christian Sister
To the tune of P. Diddy's I Need a Girl part II
lyrics by G. Leong
haha
7.26.2003
6:05 PM
IT'S ALIVE!
It appears my paycheck won't be sitting in a bank for long. At least a lot of it won't be. I've finally gotten formal permission from my mom to create a custom-built computer which I will cherish for a long time. I'm not going to buy all the parts all at once. I'll start one part at a time and hopefully will have a brand-spanking new working computer by year's end. It starts with a free ATX case from my friend Alex who's supposed to drop it off now, but he's not here yet...
In other technology news, our church is quite close to getting a domain name and webhosting from GoDaddy. I've got a sweet new website all set for it. All I need is that one powerful, magic word. And it just so happens that it's the same word that allowed me to put my computer together.
7.24.2003
7:43 PM
SHEER BOREDOM
Our family was talking tonight about how my bro is going to Wente, rest a day at home, then heading off to CBM camp. My dad remarked "That means 2 weeks of peaceful, quiet studying." That made me think of how BORED i'm really going to be. It's going to be 2 weeks of boredom. My mom will make me clean and study and maybe take her out to run errands, and that's it. My only "excursion" is next Thursday to Screen Savers, but that's it so far. A lot of my friends from school get together often and see movies, seems like 1 a week, but I'm not invited. My old friends have youth group meetings seems like everyday. That's cool, at least they won't be bored at home. Even the ppl at my youth group meet quite often, but I'm not invited. It's once a week for me. So if you feel the least bit of sympathy for me, call me up and let's hang out and do something, or else I'll end up drooling over my desk or computer all day. not fun.
HASTA LAVISTA BABY
Amazing. For some reason, I knew just knew we'd pull it off. California is like the first state in like 60 years to get a recall election certified. I guess even the liberals got too fed up with Gray Davis. I think he's lousy, but should we blame it on him? Also, if he does get recalled, will his sucessor do any better. Hmm. Okay, think Arnold Schwarzenegger. Now think Terminator, True Lies, Predator, and Jingle All the Way. Even Ronald Reagan wasn't that skilled. It'll be interesting. And definitely historic. I just hope Mr. Governor can remove a 38 billion dollar deficit.
7.23.2003
10:57 PM
PRAISE GOD!!!!
Finally, after much long and hard research and trouble, I finally fixed the problem with our laptop! It wasn't opening up any popup windows when you browse the internet. I fixed it after reading some obscure code off an internet forum and typing it in the command prompt. WAHHOOOOO!!!!! Another problem fixed!
SCREEN SAVERS AGAIN
We're going July 31. This time it's me, my friend, and my mom (bc she's got to be the adult). Watch us if you have TechTV. Angelo is our guest coordinator again, unfortunately, he wasn't able to sneak me something different than another webcam. Oh well, beggers can't be choosers. Hope Leo is there.
7.22.2003
5:30 PM
GAME OVER
After 6 months, 3 weeks, and 4 days, we've finally beat Splinter Cell. No cheats, just some walkthroughs to see what we would anticipate (they didn't help much), and a lot of med packs. And hey! we're just in time for the release of the new Kola Cell level included in XBOX magazine next month and Pandora Tomorrow coming up soon! Bring It On!!!
7.20.2003
11:28 PM
CHANGES AND COMMITMENTS
I've noticed lately how lonely I really am. I look around at all those I call my friends, and they don't seem so close. My friends from school just don't relate with me. They all listen to that loud noise they call music, watch un-Christian TV shows, and try to have fun by dating as many people as they can by senior year. Even at S.O.S. and church, it's hard for me to strike up and 2-sided conversation. I was reading some of my old friend's blogs, and their group is so close, they all planned a surprise party for someone (though it didn't work out, but aside from that). I talked with my mom abot this a while back, and she said that it will get better in college. I figure I'm fine being friend-less for the next 2 (wishfully 1) years, but now I look around and I get an uncomfortable feeling. It's not that no one says anything to me, it's that I have all acquaintances and no casual and intimate friends. I want to say that it's something that's totally me, but it doesn't seem to be working that way. Pray for me and my acquaintances, that maybe things will improve.
Now, onto website news: News is boring. My website is coming soon, I promise.
7.19.2003
11:18 PM
MI CASA
I never felt so lazy. I got my final summer "work" notice. Fortunately, it's for Chapel Leadership, one of the 3 classes I won't have to devote as much time into. I seem really lazy. I'm a little more than 1/3 of the way thru Huck Finn. I found my AP Eng. summer homework requirements today, now I need to go back thru what I read and highlight and write. dang. I'm almost through Ch. 1 of AP USH. It's long. The questions aren't that hard, but they are just extremely long. That's okay. I got 3 weeks. I read through Ch.1 of AP Phys. Wasn't that hard, but lots of the text i couldn't understand when I read it the first time, but i understood it the 2nd time. Problems are going to be a bummer though. I'll just work on a little bit each day. at that rate...
AP Phy. - 3 ch. read @ 1/nite + 3 ch. problem @ 1/ nite = 6 days
AP USH - 5 ch. read @ 1/nite + 3 ch. ?'s @ 1/nite = 8 days
AP Eng. - 27 ch. read @ 3/ nite + 2 nites of writing = 11 days
so theoretically, it shouldn't take me more than 25 days. but i'll be reading while i'm doing the other work, so it should take me much shorter, given that my laziness ceases.
My house is turning into like spiderman's lair. Seems like everywhere I walk I run into spiderwebs. I get that feeling like they're all over you. In the past 3 days, I've seen and/or killed more than 7 spiders. My cat chased a fat one just a few minutes ago. I think it's about time we called our pest control. AC was made for humans, not spiders.
5024626
COOL MINT OR FRESH BURST?
Hah, I just remembered something interesting I saw in Boston. Like all metro areas, they have their share of drunks and homeless. Well I happened to be walking back to my hotel from downtown and saw a gang and this one guy on the ground with a bottle of clear liquid (so it seemed, well, it was dark). My brother and I looked at each other like "okay" then we went on a little more. My brother said "man, that guy is weird." and i'm all like, "must be the vodka" Not that I'm an expert at hard liquor, just one of those random things I know. So, my brother goes "that's not vodka, didn't you smell his breath?" I did notice a familiar scent as I passed by. I found out that guy was downing LISTERINE! sheesh. Not that I encourage drinking, but gosh, if you're that desperate...I wonder what flavor it was...
That brings me to my philisophical point o' day: I seem to have mixed feelings when I notice the homeless. On one hand, I feel sorry that they're out here. On the other hand, I know that the majority ended up like this as a result of a drinking or drug problem (although here in SF, you'll find an increasing number of homeless due to the .com failures, but aside from that). I know that if I give them money, most will use it to buy more booze or drugs. Buying them a meal is a bit too long and most wouldn't appreciate it. It's sad to see how such a small moment of "pleasure" can ruin someone's entire life. I try to help a bit. For example, if a needy person seems really honest about what he'll use the money for, I'll give them a little bit (not enought to buy booze or drugs), give him a tract, say God bless you, and keep the person in prayer. If he uses it towards his "drug fund", then I never knew and it's God's money. Prayer is a key. It changes lives. It gives hope. Tonight at youth group, Vanessa was saying how prayer really helped her and how it is the best answer to any situation. We can't eliminate hunger, poverty, drug use, drinking, smoking, and other worldly practices, but I know someone who can. And he wants us to let him know that we need change.
7.18.2003
2:22 PM
BAHSTAHN
So I left the good ship Rotterdam on Saturday and headed immediately for Cape Cod, about 1 hour south of Boston. It was cool, except that Cape Cod has these thingies called rotaries. Basically it's like a traffic intersection of 6 directions. You enter at one part of the circle and you drive around and turn right onto another street. Seems interesting until you find out you don't know what lane you're in or what the heck you're doing.
So it was all cool, didn't buy much except for one of the shirts that says ARMY on it from an Army-Navy store. They're awesome, they have like all the army gear, and even hollowed out grenades and weapons and junk. We went to Martha's Vineyard too. It's cool. They rent out mopeds to people and stuff. I saw T3 at Cape Cod too. Awesome movie, strange ending, not at all what I expected.
So we returned to Boston. One thing about Boston: when I first arrived at Boston, it seemed that they were like New Yorkers. In NYC, I saw that lots of people could cross the streetlight at the exact time, 1 second before it said walk. And they don't even look around. One guy was reading the newspaper! It seemed like that in Boston, except not for that reason. Half the streetlights don't work! You never get a WALK so you just cross when there's no cars. Combine that with the aggressiveness of Boston drivers and the streets of Boston (mostly all one-way streets), and you get disaster and a lot of honking.
It was cool though. We walked the freedom trail, visited Cheers, went shopping, went to Harvard (excuse me, Hahvahd) and MIT. I saw my friend at Harvard. He's taking summer school there. DANG, the dorms there are huge. They're like the size of my living room! We saw Fenway too, visited the JFK library. Overall it was fun. I was sad to go. *sniff *sniff. But now I'm back, moving on with reality, preparing for 10 months of living hell.
7.17.2003
5:41 PM
I'M BACK
Well, I think I'm settled in. Most of my stuff is unpacked, and now it's time to hit the books. My $600 paycheck is here too. hmm, how should I approach talking about my vacation? I guess I'll just start from the beginning and say whatever I remember.
montreal
my first scent of the french-canadian city was smoke. All over. even in the non-smoking areas. it stunk. Montreal was neat though. they have a quaint, cobblestone area with cafes and shops. And they have enormous underground shopping malls. huge. never seen so large of a shopping area.
m.s. rotterdam
having been on many cruises, it wasn't to big of a suprise. this dam ship has tons of artwork all over. it's cool. annoying though, that you have to go up one floor above the floor with all the lounges and theaters because the dining room galley is in the way. the food was pretty good, lots of it. the one thing HAL needs to work on is efficiency. Getting 300 people back on the ship using tenders that hold 100 people, all in the rain, was not efficient. (basically, i got wet). getting on and off the ship was a disaster. Getting our tax refund was not efficient. even the nightly schedule was messed up for everyone in the late seating. overall, this cruise was good, but not the best.
quebec city
this place was cool. it had old shops and new shops. the landmark is a huge hotel called the Chateau Frontenac. Quebecans favorite food is called poutine, which is french fries with gravy and cheese on it. wasn't bad.
charlottetown, prince edward island
i found our first free internet location here, but because there was a line, 1 computer only, and a 10 minute limit, i couldn't post. charlottetown is small. Anne of Green Gables, made it famous. We went biking on a neat 100 mile trail called the Confederation trail. Interesting how it is biking with 60 people all on one trail with one guide. Felt like the Tour de France or something. Oh yeah, PEI is also known for something called iron oxide-enhanced soil, AKA, red dirt. they didn't fret over it like Mt. Hopers do. They actually use it as the dye for some of their clothes (the famous PEI dirt shirt). Ingenious. In fact, I think I'll bring a bunch of white t-shirts and try it. i'll deem it the official cbm camp shirt. lol.
sydney, nova scotia
this port was boring. it was so boring in fact, the cruise staff said it was boring. even the daily program said it was boring. we walked through it in like 1 hour. oh wait, this is where i found my second free internet location. seems Nova Scotia has a program called C@P where they have hundreds of public internet locations. i got to check email, and my previous post was from there.
halifax, nova scotia
hmm, halifax was very city-like. it had hills and stuff and a citadel. the only souvenir i bought was a radio shack S-Video to RCA video converter. gotta take advantage of that instant 15% discount.
a canada note
i learned that it is a misconception that all canadians say EH. actually, i think BC'ers are the only ones that say EH. Never heard anyone is Quebec, PEI, or Nova Scotia say eh, unless they came from BC that is.
bar harbor, ME
neat fishing town, ate lots of lobster. started raining though, that sucked.
TO BE CONTINUED...
7.09.2003
11:05 AM
FREE INTERNET, EH?
Suprised? I'm in Sydney, Nova Scotia now using free internet. Canadian economy must be ripe...can't find anything like this in the US without buying a hamburger or coffee or something. Vacation is fun so far, i'll give a full update when I get back, one week from today. *sniff. don't want to leave, so fun, so much food, ughh, I mean... yumm...
7.04.2003
5:26 AM
SO LONG, FAREWELL (AUF WIEDERSEHEN, GOODBYE)
In a matter of minutes I'm departing. Until about 2 weeks, goodbye.
Oh yeah, happy Independence Day to ya all!
7.03.2003
1:11 AM
LAST DAY
Alright, tomorrow (no, today) is finally my last day of work. Fair was starting to get annoying. Not necessarily boring, just annoying. Every day, they stick us in the travel "expo" to get people to sign up for the vacation giveaway. Bad part is, later in the evening, we have to put all those entries in the computer. So we're basically forcing ourself to make out work more miserable, and annoying. I thought I was going to go crazy if I got sent to the travel expo one more day, luckily I did office work. Not much better, but makes for variety. Amazed the heck out of my supervisor too, or so it seems, at least until the reality of how much other junk she had to do returned. Oh well, so much for my moment of satisfaction.
Friday, I leave for vacation, so depending on what goes on later today, this could be my last post for the next week and 1/2. i tried to convince my parents to let me bring a laptop to we can try to leech WiFi from some Boston cafe. Appears that won't be happening. Nor will I be able to do that with my PDA too. SanDisk is just too darn slow releasing an SD WiFi card. It's expected in fall, so hopefully I'll use it for school. So if I ever do get connected, it will just be a quick email check for my parents that will cost like $.75/ min. Don't expect a post though. It just won't happen.
Just finished checking about internet availability, just out of curiosity. Internet is indeed about $.75/min. Some HAL ships have WiFi, not sure if the Rotterdam has it. Doesn't matter, the laptop is out of the picture. I do see they have tennis courts...
Well, i'm tired. nightnight
