[

mood

|

pissed off

]

Him: "This is a distributed database program... wait, do you know what a database is?" (Not "have you taken Databases yet", it was "do you KNOW WHAT a database IS?")
Me: "Um..." *shocked pause* "yeah..." *forced laugh* "You know, I AM a computer science major too...!"
Him: "Oh, well, I just wanted to be sure..."

What I wanted to say: "Do you know what ARROGANT LITTLE SHIT means?"
Or perhaps: *lifts an eyebrow and gives an "you've got to be kidding me, would you like to try that again?" look*

I realize that he probably didn't mean to come across as being an arrogant little shit, but DAMN. That was probably one of the most insulting things another computer sci major who knows that I'm also a computer sci major could say! Does he REALLY think I could make it to a 400-level class without knowing what a goddamn DATABASE is? There is no way in hell that would happen.

And honey? Just so you know? I was working with SQL Server DURING MY INTERNSHIP, BEFORE I came to CWU. So you can just, y'know, kiss my ass, and then you can GO AWAY before you insult me again and I verbally rip you to shreds and feed what's left of you to the goldfish in the pond in the old SUB cafeteria.

I think I handled that pretty well. *seethes*

EDIT: Let me add that he said this AFTER he'd already seen my program. Which any CS major should be able to tell, just by looking at it and using their brain for even a second, would obviously HAVE to use a database to keep track of all that information.

The SciFi Channel started showing the new Doctor Who series a few weeks ago.

I am now hopelessly hooked.

We are now up to the assassin robot "Dalek" episode (as of this Friday, except I've already seen it since I won't be here Friday). Some of the craziest stuff I've ever seen. And it's really bad but really bad as in REALLY REALLY GOOD and the special effects just make it more fun. OMFG, I completely understand why it is such a huge hit in the UK. You guys have the BEST sci-fi and comedy. So random, so out there, and I LOVE it. (Last existing human? *dies laughing* MOISTURIZE!)

So, a plea to everyone: no spoilers? Please? I am already crying because no more SG-1 or Atlantis until summer, and no Battlestar Galactica until fall, and Grey's Anatomy (shut up) is going to be done for the season soon and won't be back until fall *sobs*. But now I have Doctor Who. And I am happy now!*

*Gross oversimplification, but yes. It is REALLY BAD for me to be without new episodes of a good sci-fi show (new to me anyway).

[

mood

|

chipper

]

See, told you I was going to try and make entries more often. :-)

Things are going pretty well, aside from me spacing and forgetting to grab my book for Database Management Systems for today's lab (first one this quarter). Doh. But it isn't due until early next week, and it's an Access database. Relations between tables, foreign keys, that sort of stuff. And honestly, this is stuff I learned back during my Microsoft high school internship, so for now it's all just review. I can *easily* get this done tomorrow between classes, and have it in by the end of the day. So no big deal. As long as it doesn't happen again.

( Problems I see with this lab...Collapse )

I finally found someone who can check my desktop's power supply for me. (Damn thing died at the end of last quarter; I'd be completely frakked if not for my laptop.) There are a couple of stores that could diagnose it, but do you REALLY think I'm going to carry my precious all the way down there? The whole case? No car? Several blocks? Haha. LMAO. No. Way. In. Hades. But I ran into Mike today, and he told me that he can diagnose it in the electronics lab, and to bring just the power supply itself on Monday. *relieved* (And I'll watch carefully so I can check it myself next time.) Thanks a million, Mike!

Y'know, I really need to get a few tools to diagnose things like that and to make the occasional repair... a multimeter definitely, small soldering iron, stuff like that. *thinks* I'll get on that. Yes, I know I'm a geek. You've (probably) seen my favorite t-shirt: the GEEK one with the definition on the back? So yeah, deal. :-)

Am going to the Starlight with Heather later tonight. Girls' night out, and Bellini 'Tinis! MMMMMMMM. Yes, I know it's a school night. Yes, I'm being [semi-] bad. But I NEVER do this. And it's only one drink, it's more about hanging out. (And we're hanging out in a bar just because WE CAN.) So :-P I'm looking forward to it. And speaking of which, I need to start getting ready to go. :-D

EDIT: One last thing. Spring Knitty needs to get posted! I can't take the anticipation much longer...

ARGH! Should've left last night. The pass is closed now; there was an avalanche. And the Greyhound ticket counter doesn't open until 10, so I have to wait to call and find out whether they're taking the buses around Stevens. :-/ That'd be a miserably long trip, but still better than nothing... *crosses fingers* I want to go HOME.

I'm back. For some reason I haven't felt like being online for awhile...

I had my wisdom teeth out last Friday; it wasn't fun, let me tell you. My face was so swollen that it was wider than it is high! (I went into the bathroom the day after, and came out in tears: "I look like a BULLDOG!" Keep in mind I was on Vicoden and thus very very out of it.) There were only two, but one was stuck up there between the roots of the tooth next to it. I'll spare you the details, but apparently it was one of the hardest ones the surgeon had ever done. Other tooth hasn't hurt at all since it was removed, which makes me happy. Still have a big red welt at the right side of my mouth where they had to pull hard to get at the difficult tooth, but it should be nearly gone by the time I get back to Eburg.

On Tuesday, Heather and Mike came over. We went to Mr. Spot's, then wandered around downtown Ballard for awhile and then hit Archie McPhee's. Headed back to my house and met up with Katherine, and then the four of us headed down to the Seattle Center. We were going to see Harry Potter, but it turned out that the couipons we were going to use were for the IMAX theater by the aquarium, not the Seattle Center. So we thought we'd go to Pacific Place for dinner and a movie. Since the monorail was out, we decided to walk to Pacific Place. There weren't any movies that all of us wanted to see, so we decided to just get dinner at Thai Ginger and hang out.

I love my friends.

Not much of an update, but I don't have a lot to say right now... I do need to update more often though.

All in all, it's been a very quiet break. I'm kind of looking forward to getting back. I miss my apartment!

It's already the last week of classes. I have classes tomorrow, and then it's finals. Might not have to take my Psych final; we'll see. :-) Currently I have 80% in Sets and Logic; if I can pull 80% on both tomorrow's test and the final, I'll have a B-. *crosses fingers* I have worked my ASS off for that class, fought for every point, and I am going to put up a damned good fight on those remaining tests. Yolanda's coming over tonight so we can study for tomorrow's test; hopefully that'll give me the extra boost I need for tomorrow.

It's snowing! I think we have 1-1.5 inches or so. Very pretty out there (now that I don't have to go outside for the rest of the day, anyway). Yeah, and I have a *stunning* view of the parking lot. Haha, no, I don't really mind the parking lot view. If you sit on the futon, you can't even see the parking lot. I'm hoping the snow turns to the stuff that packs easily; the powdery stuff is so slippery!

Anyway, good luck on finals, everyone!

[

mood

|

busy

]

Blegh. My finals are supposed to be on Tuesday and Wednesday next week, but since I am supposed to get extra time, the testing people can't fit me in until Thursday and Friday. (And obviously it would be too much to try and take two finals in one day, since that'd be eight SOLID hours with no break...) So looks like I'm not going to be leaving until Friday night at best, and more likely Saturday morning. Ugh! I guess on the brighter side, I get a few extra days to study for my hard tests. That's definitely good.

Lots to do; I have an assembly language program and a math assignment, both due on Friday, as well as a math test on Friday. Doesn't sound like much, but we're talking the hardest assembly program yet and the kind of math homework which usually takes me a good 8-14 hours to finish. (I take forever to do proofs. I could look at how he did the problems from the notes online, but that's an absolute last resort, and even then I won't write anything down until I understand *exactly* how he did the proof and why it works.)

Speaking of math, today's lecture was actually kind of cool; the prof talked about how to prove certain problems with recursive algorithms. You know me; I'm not overly fond of math. But this was a really clever way to solve the problems.

At any rate, whether I'll be going out this Friday night is questionable, although I certainly will next Friday if I'm still here. Back to the math. And then hopefully to make some good headway into the assembly program, since tomorrow night will be almost solely devoted to studying for the math test. And if I can scrape together enough time, I'll revise my resume and FINALLY get that emailed to the recruiter over in Redmond.

[

mood

|

excited

]

Cindy, you just made my evening! XD My sides hurt from laughing. :-) All of you who like Harry Potter even the SLIGHTEST bit MUST go check this out. I give you... Malfoy the Amazing Bouncing Ferret! :-D

*goes to watch it again*

Hey guys! I know, it’s been awhile. Things have been kind of crazy, but I’m going to try to do a better job of updating regularly.

It turns out that I have a cousin going here. I think I found her email address, and I’ve sent her a message. No response yet, but we’ll see. Most people don’t obsessively check their mail every day (especially their school accounts)!

I kind of bombed my Computer Architecture midterm. *sigh* REALLY bombed it. The frustrating thing is that I KNOW this stuff. And the prof knows I know it. But for some reason, I completely froze up and panicked. Stupid stupid stupid. The prof says he thinks I can make it up with the other tests and the programs, but I’m still feeling pretty down about it.

Halloween is next weekend! (Monday, actually, but whatever.) I’m heading back to Seattle next weekend, but I’ll be back Monday evening. (Going to the doctor on Monday. Whoopee. I get to visit the vampires so they can draw blood. Someone make them go away? MY blood, thankyouverymuch.) Some people in my apartment unit have been talking about having a little party out on our shared balcony: nothing crazy, just light the pumpkins, maybe dress up, have some candy out in case we get trick-or-treaters, and maybe a couple of beers. Should be fun if it happens.

And finally, the most exciting thing that’s happened. Remember a few months ago, when I mentioned how much I missed my French homestay family? I’ve been searching for them for quite awhile (since before that post, actually). Nothing in the French phone books, nothing helpful in the search engines; it’s been very frustrating. But a couple days ago, I decided to put their names into another search engine for probably the tenth time... and GUESS WHAT! I think finally have found someone who knows Marine, the youngest daughter. I think she’s in the same English class? I really hope that this girl is able to help; I haven’t gotten a response yet, but I only emailed her Wednesday night (which is Thursday morning for them).

( More about the familyCollapse )

I miss them SO MUCH.

You know, I think I need to type up those entries from my trip, and post them as backdated posts. Maybe I’ll have some time next weekend... there are a LOT of them though, so don’t be surprised if it takes a few weekends.

I’d better stop right here; I need to do my Sets and Logic homework and study for the Monday Psychology test. Plus I have a babysitting job tonight. SO MUCH TO DO!

[

mood

|

jubilant

]

*huge grin* I FINALLY HAVE INTERNET AGAIN!!! And it is high-speed cable internet too, and I don't have to deal with the school's awful network. Except when I'm on campus.

The rundown: the apartment's great, I have a REAL kitchen, got a new set of pots and pans from my mom, classes are OK (meaning two are going to be classes from hell, the other two are fun), tired as hell but am doing fine, Eli's blankie is FINALLY about 90% done and will be finished in a day or two *whoops*, and I'm almost done putting all my schtuff away and can start inviting people over in a few days. And I MISSED ALL OF YOU SO MUCH. What have I missed over the past couple of weeks?

I'll try to do an actual update later tonight, after I get my first Psychology paper done. (Not a big deal, first one's supposed to be a "practice" paper. No points. *mutters under breath about writing a paper for no credit*) Anyway. Need food now.

Hehe. Krista posted some Harry Potter links and I sorta spent my whole afternoon reading all the HP essays on the website... *amused* Thank you ma'am, that was quite the read. :-) I am slowly becoming semi-obsessed. All you HP people on my friends list, you guys are rubbing off on me! *can't decide whether to be scared or gleeful* Next thing you know, I'll be knitting myself a Ravenclaw house scarf. XD Haha, and I probably will too, I found a great pattern online and it's knit in the round and should be really warm... would be perfect for Eburg winters.

I was talking with Mom tonight, and I told her I was leaning towards keeping the 2-bedroom apartment, whatever happens. And she actually AGREED. If worse comes to worse, the second bedroom can become a study/hobby room/computers room. (Hopefully it doesn't come to that, but if it does...) Yeah, it would be expensive, but I suppose that's what loans are for. Mom even agreed with me on that as well; after all, I don't have much debt compared to most students. I'm still keeping my hopes up, but at least I know it will be OK either way.

Dentist in the morning. Blegh. Plus regular doctor the next day because she doesn't like the dosage on one of my meds and doesn't want to refill it at that level and wants me to come in for an office visit (have only been going to her for a year, so she's not yet up to speed on my whole medical history). *sigh* My dosage is FDA-approved, and my pediatrician and I spent a LONG time adjusting it until it worked for me. There's no standard dose because there's no correlation between dose and effect; it has to be completely individualized. This dose works for me and has worked for about five years with no problems. I trust my doctor and will defer to her on everything else, but in this ONE case, uh-uh. I don't want anyone messing around with this med, not when it's working so well. :-P

Yes, I am very quickly getting sick of doctors. Nothing personal -- they are GOOD, they make me stop feeling so crappy -- but just in general the whole ordeal. EEEEEUURGHHHHHHHH.

Grr. I miss Cas. And Al. Haven't seen them since the end of the quarter. Hopefully will get to see them both in a couple of weeks, when I go sign the apartment contract and get the keys. As well as all of my other friends back at school!

Heck, I miss Ellensburg. Good ol' Cowtown USA. (Or "Windy Fucking Egypt" as Kris once so descriptively put it! LMFAO!!!) The Burg may be small, but I can't help but love it. Don't want to live there permanently, but it's one helluva great little college town.

Headache 'cause I'm sleepy. What am I doing up this late anyway? *rolls eyes at self* Rambling too much. Must sleep. NOW. :-)

Time to test my laptop's temper again (and perhaps amuse you guys in the process)...

*pokes at laptop* Don't go crazy on me. NICE computer. GOOD computer. Want a... a... hmmm... how about a nice defrag? Or, um, maybe a yummy blank CD-R... *dangles* Good laptop, don't bite!

*waits hopefully*

Oy. 21 critical updates. Damn good thing I'm so insistent on keeping my firewall and antivirus up to date... :-/

And, um, yes, my desktop is flickering while the updates are being installed. *mildly confused*

Blegh. I swear, I ought to name my laptop after everybody's favorite Klingon on Voyager, temperamental laptop that she is. Maybe I will. :-P So far so good though. (I still say homebrews are the best computer you can possibly have. Don't tell *her* that though.)

Must go, AutoUpdate wants me to restart. I can't WAIT for Longhorn. Or Vista, as I hear they're now calling it. No more restarting after updates... *dreamy look*

[

mood

|

irritated

]

My laptop has been acting screwy and has been a royal pain in the you-know-what for over a month and a half now. It goes completely wacko whenever I start using Word or type in a multiline textbox in IE, and doesn't stop until I reboot.

So, in a desperate attempt to get my laptop to START WORKING RIGHT AGAIN, I dug out my XP CD and decided to try a repair before going all out and reinstalling. And it took not one, but TWO XP repairs from CD. In four hours. Because on the first repair, I used the wrong CD and didn't figure it out until too late. *headdesk* And turns out there IS a difference between the copy of XP Pro Dell gave me and the copy I bought for my desktop. The regular copy wouldn't take the laptop's CD key. And the Dell copy doesn't ask for a CD or activation. I am feeling like a very stupid monkey right now.

And now, just by typing an LJ entry, I am deliberately provoking my laptop. *bites nails* Keep your fingers crossed, guys, 'cause I'd sure hate to have gone through all that repair hell for nothing. *exhausted*

[

mood

|

excited

]

Harry Potter and SG-1 and Atlantis and Battlestar Galactica, all in one day... a geek's dream come true. *falls over in delight*

*loves Amazon for being nice and getting Harry Potter to her on release day even though they weren't supposed to ship it to her until her brother's DVDs get released on the 19th because of the shipment grouping*

*falls over again and kicks feet in air and whoops joyfully, then goes back to reading Harry Potter*

Highlights today:

- Kicking ass on my CS 112 final. Only had two questions I didn't know, and they were only worth 5 points total (out of 100). Also blew both of the algorithms out of the water.
- Working myself to death on my Web final and presentation. (Bad highlight.)
- Getting to see the house that Cas and Al just signed the lease for today; the house is absolutely gorgeous and adorable.
- Eating dinner (a teriyaki burger and fries from Red Horse, yummy!) and drinking a bit of hard cider out on the back deck with Cas and Al.
- Watching the two of them giddy and babbling with excitement and absolutely beaming over getting the house, getting tours of the house from both of them, and watching them running around figuring out where they want to put everything. (You two are SERIOUSLY adorable! *hugs* I love you guys to pieces!)
- Getting annoyed that the essay is taking so long, getting mad, and getting that ticked-off, intensely focused and determined attitude... and actually getting half of the second essay question written in a half hour because of it!
- Talking to my cats on the phone... :-) *dork*
- Knowing that I only have a day and a half to go, and then I get to pass out for awhile. Then Cas's graduation on Saturday and the BBQ that evening. :-D
- Going home in four days. And getting to meet my nephew (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). And then getting to sleep. For a WEEK. Yeah, I think that sounds about right.

Is it really still only Wednesday? That final this morning, it seems like it was days ago.

One paper down, one to go. FINALLY. Why oh why am I such a compulsive perfectionist when it comes to writing??? *smacks self* Must... stop... now. Do not have TIME to be a perfectionist.

[

mood

|

stressed

]

Yet another day of slaving over my papers. *growls halfheartedly* But 2 1/2 more days and my finals are done. Just gotta hang in there a little longer. And 4 1/2 days and I'll be home.

It's not so bad. Tell me it's not so bad.

I mean, today I just need to polish a paper and write another 7-page paper (or a really really good draft that's almost a final draft) and go over binary conversions and binary fractions one more time. Then tomorrow, 8 AM final for 112, and I write my 2-page essay for Web and go over my lesson website and practice my presentation. And Thursday morning I get up early and upload my website onto the Hebler CS server, then final presentation in Web, and then Jo and I prepare for our joint presentation in Tech Writing, which will be really easy since we both know our subject by heart (it's about our research project for SOURCE) and then polish 7-page paper if necessary. And then pack my stuff and clean the room, then check out and stay at Jo's for Friday and Saturday nights (if her roommate's OK with it).

*breathes* Sounds bad, but I can do this. *determined* Just have to keep forcing myself to focus.

EDIT:
Woooo! *feels rather smug* Just managed to squeeze 4 full pages of notes for CS 112 onto two pages. Notes that would be about 10 pages long if I made them normally-sized and formatted them like my normal notes. And probably a good 20 pages if they were single column instead of triple. *grins* Really, they're not hard to decipher either, all I do is bold or italicize key terms (or manually underline them with different colors or put a box around 'em) and group related notes in the same section.

I used the same technique that I used back in Drager's biology class in high school, when he told us we only got a quarter page of notes on each test. It flabbergasted him when I brought in this quarter page of solid, itty-bitty typed text. But he hadn't told us the notes specifically had to be handwritten, and I think he was actually pretty amused by the whole thing (especially since I only looked at my notes maybe twice during a test!), so he didn't stop me... Same with my CS 112 prof, he noticed but doesn't have any problem with it.

Making "my" semi-famous fenberry pie Saturday night was definitely a great idea. I didn't realize how well it keeps in the fridge. (Never lasts more than a few minutes when there's more than one person around!) I just add a teaspoon or so of water to a bowl with a slice of pie, microwave it 2 - 2 1/2 minutes, and it's as good as it was fresh out of the oven. except the crust is a little moister. And it's great for any meal, breakfast included. I don't feel so deprived now.

p.s. If anyone wants to come over and have a slice, let me know... it'll be gone by Wednesday evening probably. Also, you guys might be able to talk me into making another pie at the beginning of fall quarter. That is, if I've got my apartment or if someone wants to let me use their kitchen. :-) I am DONE cooking in dorm kitchens!

Grrr. Somebody make my laptop stop be so screwy. I've always maintained that homebrew computers are more stable than company-built computers, and this just proves my point. The clock in the system tray isn't updating properly, and when XP groups several windows together on the Start bar (e.g. you have 4 IE windows open), it sometimes puts a "6" aligned on the far right side of the text on the bar... and sometimes windows pop up that don't have anything but a title bar and maybe a side border, and everything else is clear where there ought to be a window (even when I drag the window around). *glares* I do not have time for this. Blah. I'm calling Dell Tech Support. I don't have the energy to track such weird problems down myself right now. If it weren't finals week I'd figure it out myself, but I'm too busy to take care of that right now and this is making it hard to do anything. If I'm lucky they'll know what's going on right away? (I still say homebrews beat namebrands any day.)

[00:17] Allison { 4 days to summer! }: heh, finals are hazardous to your health...
[00:18] J: amen to that lol
[00:21] Allison { 4 days to summer! }: heh, maybe we should research that instead
[00:22] J: haha
[00:22] J: maybe the year after? lol
[00:22] Allison { 4 days to summer! }: or maybe we could combine it with the game research... hmmmm... ;-)
[00:24] J: haha

// not grumpy, just tired and my mind is wandering in a frenzied fashion...

[

mood

|

amused

]

I am highly amused.

I forgot to ask my parents to pick up some disposable cups. So, since all of my dishes and stuff are now in my storage unit, I had to improvise.

You know those plastic containers that hold six tubs of Crystal Light lemonade mix? Um. I am using one of those as a temporary cup.

And I am currently drinking some of the lemonade I made from that mix from my improvised cup. X-D Oh the irony.

I feel like such a college student right now. Oh wait... I am. Duh.