dracil

So my computer parts actually arrived today instead of tomorrow! Gonna start building it after I finish writing this entry. Hope all goes well...

Shen came by to pick up deposits, and got him to watch an episode of Elfen Lied.

Went to Moffitt to find Rebecca later on so we could decide what to eat for dinner (had Mediterranean take-out). After that, came to my place to watch Jiang Hu. I think it was a good movie, especially with the plot twist. Or maybe I'm just slow.
Currently feeling jittery

dracil

Your computer skills have risen by 3!

So I was up till 3AM working on my computer. Spent a bit of time chasing and being chased by dust bunnies. -_- Anyway, instruction manuals could've been better. Probably made my heatsink less efficient because I wasn't sure which way I was supposed to clamp down the levers. In fact, I know I damaged the thermal pad, but since it's supposed to melt, I'm hoping the parts that got scraped off were filled in by the other parts. Temperature readings seem normal, maybe slightly high. My fingers also hurt from ripping apart all that steel from my case. I guess that's why the case was cheap... it's also noisy, but otherwise, it was a very good value. I ran into a problem at 3AM when I tried to install Windows. I realized I forgot to write down my product key... so I had to borrow my roommate's computer this morning to retrieve one. Currently reinstalling all my "must-have" programs.

Didn't sleep too well last night on account of my not being used to the new computer fan sound (I left it on that product key screen because I wasn't sure of the possible consequences if I turned off my computer right then), as well as general worries of whether everything would be alright.
Currently feeling happy

dracil

Ok, so I figured out why my computer was so noisy. One of the fans was a bit loose, so it was hitting the sides as it was spinning. Fiddled with it a bit and now it's a lot quieter. Noticed one of the fins had already been damaged, and it's still a bit loose, so it's a matter of time before it makes a racket again. In fact it's starting to get louder as I type....
Currently feeling blah

dracil

So after my last post the fan got noisy again, so I went to a computer shop I'd seen just yesterday and bought a new fan for $2. Much better.

Today was Joyce's birthday dinner, although her actual birthday is not till Sunday. We went to Lark Creek. Very expensive restaurant. But I had a free dinner, paid for by Diana (for my helping BST) and Charlie (for some personal favors). Thank you, both of you! Especially since I know it was so expensive today! The restaurant's serving size was kinda small, except for perhaps Joyce's lamb dish, which was also the most expensive. I eat too quickly... But I kept asking for more and more free bread to fill me up before and afterwards anyway.

Afterwards we went to Joyce's dorm's lounge to celebrate her birthday with a cake, and then we just kept talking (which as usual, consists of teasing people). Everyone was really tired today, so we ended with that.
Currently feeling content

dracil

Hmm, I noticed the HD activity LED doesn't light up... It *seems* to be connected from what I can see from the outside. But maybe not... or maybe the LED's broken.

Anyway, grad school fair in about 2 weeks time, will probably pay a visit, just to get a better idea of how it all works.

Hmm, looks like grocery time again.
Currently feeling okay

dracil

Gotta love cognitive dissonance.

First, we have the people claiming that Kerry only "won" because he "cheated" in the debate. Basically lots of claims that he reached in his pocket for a cheat sheet, which was not allowed in the debate (at least, you had to give it to the judges for review, who'd set it on the podium for you). However, now we have a counter-claim that Bush was the one who cheated, through the use of an ear piece. Read more here.
Currently feeling amused

dracil

It was his bday today (yesterday). Everyone who went to Shen and Chester's apartment were all GUYS! I think that's saying something. While away time playing Worms World Party on Shen's Dreamcast while waiting for people to show up, then we sang the song and had the really large creamy cake. Then we went home shortly after. Happy 21st Chester!
Currently feeling okay

dracil

Mmm, so I emailed about that web developer job. Looks like the guy's still doing phone interviews.
Currently feeling blah

dracil

Urk, still waiting for A Feast for Crows to come out. If it takes too long, I fear I may have to re-read the first three books of the A Song of Ice and Fire series again or I'll forget important details. That's around 3000 pages of reading. -_-

And I have to wait for the paperback version to come out too, since I don't really wanna pay for a hardcover (more expensive and heavier!)
Currently feeling blah

dracil

Hmm, I tend to sleep a lot longer without the use of alarms... perhaps I should use the alarms for awhile again to get my body into a regular sleep cycle.
Currently feeling okay

dracil

So dinner with Rebecca at Cancun today. She was actually inside and I was outside, so we wasted around 20 minutes not knowing the other person had already arrived. Good thing she came out. I actually saw her, but only her back, and she was sitting next to people so I thought it was some other group. Food was kinda expensive, although now that I come to think of it, I think it was the drink that was expensive. The burrito itself was a decent price.
Currently feeling content

dracil

Net went down today because my ISP upgraded some software. So later tonight, they have to downgrade the software to prevent the problems. Lovely...
Currently feeling blah

dracil

I forgot who wanted it, but here are several.

Try Meine Liebe (for the GBA, but there's a PS2 version too), Fantastic Fortune (2nd one's for the PS2), and basically the entire line of Amedeo products. I only picked out the girl with boy harem games. But if you want the boy with boy harem ones (apparently girls like these? Maybe it's similar to lesbians for guys), check out the relevant section in the Megatokyo Dating Sim FAQ, which has contributions from my cousin.
Currently feeling okay

dracil

http://www.zeldman.com/adgraveyard - rejected ads. For good reason.

I really liked this one. http://www.zeldman.com/adgraveyard/19.html This one too. http://www.zeldman.com/adgraveyard/26.html
Currently feeling very amused

dracil

http://www.techweb.com/wire/security/49900742

Enjoy your funny.exe files!
Currently feeling okay

dracil

Accompanied by a bit of drama afterwards... as well as a dinner overshadowed by conversations in Taiwanese. Caught Sophia coming home from review while waiting for Charlie to return the keys to the video cabinet so she joined us for the dinner too.

Looks like the final Bush/Kerry debate tomorrow. I haven't really watched the debates (except for little bits), but it is fun listening/reading people discussing them.
Currently feeling okay

dracil

Ugh, hot weather sucks.
Currently feeling blah

dracil

Google really is becoming more and more like Microsoft in that it's trying to take over more and more different markets.

Some more recent examples:
http://desktop.google.com
http://www.picasa.com/content/download.php

Anyway, went to grad school fair today, and who do I see? Heather MacLeod! One of my former GSIs for CogSci. Was nice talking to her again.
Currently feeling okay

dracil

So went to dinner at Tako Sushi with Rebecca, Marisa, and Lui. Then went to Rebecca's place where I taught and played San Juan with Rebecca and Lui. Rankings were in order of me, Lui, Rebecca for both games. Yeah yeah, I've played too many games. I should've handicapped myself with only 3 cards at the beginning.

Then at 10:45 (well a bit earlier since we had to drive), the five of us (above 4 + Kay) went to watch the Cal vs. UCLA hockey game! And yeah, so we lost. UCLA scored in the first couple minutes, and we scored in the last few minutes of the first period. We then proceeded to get smacked 3 times in a row, before coming back for two more points, but we didn't manage to make that 4th one for a tie in the last period.

Oh, and it was really cold. Somehow, it didn't quite sink into my head as I got ready that hockey = ice rink = cold, so I was only wearing my lightest jacket (suitable only for the weather outside).
Currently feeling content

dracil

Hmm, Halloween (aka Western Cosplay) soon. Not that I really do much on that day anymore.
Currently feeling okay

dracil

Ok, I think I've picked out the ones I want. Tomorrow, I go ask the people for the letters of recommendation.
Currently feeling jittery

dracil

Oh yes, Mitama is open now. It replaced that Buttercup place near Safeway. I actually forgot and went past the stop because the blue colored building was no longer blue...
Currently feeling blah

dracil

I've been having hiccups all day on and off. >_<

The title's a reference to Azumanga Daioh and hiccups.
Currently feeling weird

dracil

Eeh, the rain! Cold....

Went to the SISS office today to ask Rachael to write letters of recommendations for me. Went well, Alan's still there. Krista's gone, and Adam's in her spot. Didn't see Don either at his desk. Was nice talking to them again.
Currently feeling okay

dracil

Simply put, today went well. Written note to self: She wants a CV, brag sheet (like stuff I did in lab that was good), and if useful, my statement of purpose. She also discussed about possible work opportunities in the meantime. :D But no promises, as the paperwork really sucks and could hit a snag.
Currently feeling giddy

dracil

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1015-06.htm - Good going guys. Kicking three teachers out because apparently T-shirts with the words "Protect Our Civil Liberties" is too "obscene" for them.

In other news, anime convention in November! On campus! Who wants to go?!

Oh yeah, and I finally finished Excel Saga after 4 years. Definitely very very funny. :D Although the last episode was more weird than funny.
Currently feeling amused

dracil

Good thing Sam Ou reminded me last night that this week was Theatre Rice. He does the lighting for the show now. :D

As usual, I was one of the first (#4 in line). Ate my dinner while waiting there.

Skits were nice. There was one with a guy advertising his sexual abilities. There was also a cool Battle Royale (Berkeley Royale) skit at the end complete with a video of the events. And of course, Magnetic North was there!

I was by myself, had *the* sweet spot in the dead center (and the seat in front of me was unoccupied). Didn't really see Catherine, who was supposed to have gone with her roommate, although I think I saw someone who may have been her.

Saw Shen and Chester too before the show, who went to the HKSA event right across.
Currently feeling content

dracil

The following links are for Catherine, because of our arguments on the usage of "alright" or "all right." I insist that it is alright to use "alright." (She has more of an editor [prescriptivist] background while I have more of a linguist [descriptivist] background :D)

http://www.hogg.utexas.edu/AKAWeb/AlrightAlready.html
http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/vip/001227.html
Currently feeling geeky

dracil

So today we went to The Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Catherine and David's birthday. Today is actually David's birthday, and Catherine's was earlier, but we decided to combine them since they're so close. Food was good. Big portions. Only Aaron actually finished everything I think. Even I had leftovers! But the other guys didn't choose to take home the leftovers. I think I got full from the bread before the actual meal. Catherine's dinner came late, so they gave her a free soup, and gave her the meal for free, and there was some ice cream + whipped cream "cakes" at the end complimentary of the restaurant. There were also two cheesecakes for dessert split between the six people that wanted them.

So during dinner, Charlie started asking the girls for dating advice. Learned some interesting stuff. Also noticed a difference between the thoughts between the guys and the girls. The girls claimed that being friends with the girls is actually *not* good if you're hoping to eventually develop a relationship with them, since if you get too deep into the friendship, they'll treat you as a brother and that's the end for you. Aaron found this to be odd, feeling that it's better to know the person better first. I'd say I'd tend to agree with his view, and I personally am unlikely to go after girls that I'm not friends with. Yet the girls won't go for guys that they're friends with... Hmm... something's wrong there. ^_^

Edit: I just saw this thread at the Protag forums, reminding me of this Megatokyo thread dealing with this article, the gist of which I had actually mentioned during dinner.
Currently feeling sleepy

dracil

Well, I signed up for Blog Explosion a couple days ago. I guess it works... although I highly doubt the effectiveness. The way it works is that you go visit other blog's through the site, and you earn credits, which are used to send other people trying to earn credits to your site. The only problem here is that a lot of the people are not really interested in the random blogs that get served up to them, they're just doing to drive other similarly meaningless traffic to their site. I guess the theory is that, out of every thousand or so visitors, there may be a handful that do stick around a read an entry or two, and become genuinly interested in what you have to say.

Oh, I guess I'll warn you that the link above is a referral link, in the event you do sign up, I get some bonus credits from your credits, no loss to you, the usual drill, pyramid scheme, etc.

Oh yeah, Heather finally replied to my request, and she said yes! Yay, now I have all three people for my letters of recommendations! :D
Currently feeling okay

dracil

BST meeting at Epicurean today. I went just so I could eat with people. I like eating with people. However, after the dinner, I got *really* sleepy for some reason. Maybe the cold, the food, the lack of sleep combined = I started to nod off.
Currently feeling sleepy

dracil

Oh, before I forget, there's an anime convention coming up. In November. On the 14th. Here at Berkeley. Yes, at Berkeley! It's being hosted by the anime club here. $8 pre-registration (by Nov. 7) or $10 afterwards. Anyone want to go?
Currently feeling okay

dracil

Or around that. That's right, soon you can get 1GB connections in Japan for 6000 yen/month, shared between 32 people. Or you can get a 100MBit connection all to yourself. Think about that when you next order broadband in the US.

Even their ADSL is 50MBit for 4000 yen/month.
Currently feeling blah

dracil

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3958665.stm

That's right, if you aren't in North America, there's a good chance you're banned from George Bush's site.
Currently feeling amused

dracil

Finally managed to give back Joyce's game that she'd lent me near the beginning of the semester. Guild Wars world preview event started today instead of tomorrow. Will last till October 31st. Pretty female models. Nexus: The Jupiter Incident multiplayer demo came out several days ago. Cool tactical space battles.
Currently feeling geeky

dracil

This is a Bush ad


Currently feeling amused

dracil

4 days till GRE, panic time! :D
Currently feeling bleh

dracil

Yay for Daylight Saving Time! It's 1AM again!
Currently feeling happy