Saturday, January 31, 2009

Friday, January 30, 2009

Kinsey

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Saw an old friend today. It was refreshing to see how people change, yet somehow still retain that familiar essence you remember them by.

Have fun in the Caribbean, Kinz :]

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

iPhoto '09 :: Microsoft Photosynth

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Oh god.

I spent hours. hours! HOURS!! tagging photos in iPhoto'09 today.

The facial recognition is pretty good, except for some reason it refused to recognize my little buddy Yuka's face. She has like the most distinctive look ever. However, it has NO TROUBLE differentiating between the twins in Iowa (identical). Weird.

If that wasn't enough, there's geotagging to be done. Now I want an 'auto-geotagger' add-on for my camera, even though the only purpose would be to feed my lust for properly organized and tagged information, in this case photos.

Segue! With all the tagging, especially auto-tagging via AI systems like image recognition, images may finally get attention from webcrawlers. What I mean is, true image searching, based on the image itself, not just the text associated with it. What does this mean? Searching for your face will turn up A LOT more photos. Ever wondered how many strangers' photos you're in the background of? This technology will help you find out.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Manager of McDonalds ?

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Wow. Not sure what to think, say, or do.

McDonalds offered me the manager position at the EP location.

As flattered as I am, I don't have 5 months to do manager training so I can make $9.50/hr and hate my life. I'll pass, thank you.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

I Cleaned Up

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It's time to get up now. Out of this slump.

Tomorrow I job hunt.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Four Hours at the Gym :: Jesus Camp

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Tumbling was fine. No hangover (likely due to my 4+ glasses of water). I spent 4 hours at the gym.

The afternoon was fuzzy, again. I'm not sure what I did or where the time went.

Jesus Camp. I watched it. Oh shit. The real life horror story of RIGHT NOW.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Vodka Hidden Beneath Frozen Tofu Burgers

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Another day as Hermit Steve.

Woke up at one - Spent several blurry hours at the computer - Went out to eat at Punch with the sister and mother because Mel goes back to school tomorrow (around 6pm? where did the time go?).

After Punch, I watched a couple episodes of Skins (season 2) on my new spiffy entertainmet system. I discovered a bottle of Absolut hidden under frozen tofu burgers and Lean Pockets in the freezer.

I love vodka. (and scotch!)

I also love Skins. Watching that show really makes me want to let go. Take a pill. Go dancing. Embrace a fuzzy stop motion kaleidoscopic dream world.

That 'thing' in the photo is apparently called "chipped beef."

It was another one of my discoveries, alongside the vodka. I couldn't possibly fathom how anyone could eat that stuff without 4 vodkas in them. It must have been invented by the vodka industry.

Trampoline/tumbling is going to be... difficult... tomorrow morning.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

The Bowling Alley Pub

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Met with Erika and Beth at the bowling alley's pub for a drink. It was very refreshing to leave the house.

Luckily, since classes have started for most, the bar wasn't a premature high school reunion (as it apparently was during winter holiday).

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Days Go By and Still I Think About...

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Dark. The last couple days have been a fuzzy fog of computer screens and me in my pajamas.

I watch the shadows in my house change as the day ages.

What day is it?

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

XBOX to Home Media Center

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I converted my XBOX into a home media server running UnleashX. (photo)

All it cost me was a $2 copy of Splinter Cell and a couple hours of combined research and setup time.

With my spiffy new Ubuntu server, I can now stream all my music and videos from the Ubuntu Box to the XBOX wirelessly. XBOX Media Center (XBMC) automatically looks up video, TV, and Music metadata so I can see reviews, plot synopsis, and thumbnails from IMDB and other online databases. It's truly a thing of beauty.

What's that? It gets better? Oh yes - I have a Super Nintendo emulator installed too. This plus my full catalog of ROMs means I can play any SNES game ever released in any country all on my XBOX.

The downside? I can't use XBOX Live anymore from that specific XBOX. Cost-Benefit? Worth it!

Monday, January 19, 2009

Dead Computer Reincarnated

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I ordered a new motherboard for $30. With it now in hand, I was able to bring the old black box back to life.

Dual boot: Windows / Linux (Ubuntu)

I also installed MacOS 10.5 on the sisters laptop.

It was a healthy day of sore fingertips, dilated pupils, caffeine, and that healthy pale skin you can only get from bathing in computer light.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Diamond Joe

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After watching Wayne's World, Erika and I drove back to Minnesota.

The weather got shitty. Good thing I'm the best driver in the world with no history of totaling cars.

We stopped at Diamond Joe's Casino on 35. It's a truly surreal place. Maybe I'll go inside someday.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Girltalk

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Morning

Made Erika and Elizabeth some eggs.

Day

Ate Spaghettios, pizza, and pickles.

Sat on a couch.

Night

Party at The Donald.

Played several games of beerpong, but gave up my winning position to Brian because we were playing in the garage and I couldn't feel my fingers anymore.

Talked with Yumi for awhile on the phone.

Decided to find where all the cool kids went; I found them upstairs. They were all girls, but the situation didn't strike me as a dick stomping conversation, so I joined them. We talked about What The Bleep Do We Know? and other existential 'stuff'.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Religious Views: "I kill people."

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It was nice to see my ranger friend again. He kills people in the middle east for a living.

I played the 1st floor foosball champ 1-on-1 in a 3 game tourney. I won - by 1 point.

I got a nice big fat newborn-sized burrito at The Flying Burrito at like 2AM; it brought back drunken memories.

At like 3:30AM, after finishing the whiskey, I walked to HyVee and bought 18 eggs, 2 cans of Princess Spaghettios, 1 can of pickles, and 1 frozen pizza.

I ate 6 eggs when I got back.

Content with my indulgence, I slept.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Childhood Neighbor

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Known her about 9 years now. We went to the same private middle school, the same public high school, and the same university (for a year or two). I usually only get to see her two or three times per year. I was thrilled.

We ate out at D'Amico & Sons, watched Tropic Thunder, then talked for hours.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Six Eggs & Whiskey Chapstick

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Day

Grant and I finished this crossword puzzle with no outside help. I'd never finished a crossword puzzle before.

Night

Drank at Dana's. I ate 6 eggs and a gas station hot dog.

The next morning, my scarf smelt like ketchup and my chapstick tasted like whiskey - ugh.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Dirty Countertops?

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Morning

What did I wake up to? Suspicion. I wondered, as I ate my cereal, if I should worry about how sanitary the countertops were.

Evening

Went to the gym. This Sunday the team is competing, so gym hours have been extended, which is great because the extra practice has definitely helped me get back my skills. Tonight, I re-learned piked front somis (front flip with legs straight).

Monday, January 12, 2009

24+ Hours in My Room

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Morning/Day/Night/Late Night

Fuck, my eyes hurt. I've been teaching myself PHP and CSS over the last week. I spent all of today updating my mom's site's CSS and structure, which isn't really saying much cuz I still suck at this stuff.

Since I finally bought my own domain name about a week ago, this blog will likely be migrated there within the month, depending on how quickly I can learn PHP. And maybe Flash too, ugh. Since this blog is more of a photo log, I want more control over the visual structure. I think I'll display my image for each day as a thumbnail on a calendar, which makes much more sense. Don't understand? You'll see later.

Finally updated the blog. I apologize to my daily 14 visitors that I've lagged in my posting :)

New Posts:

PS: This post isn't being made at 10PM. I lied. It's 5:21 AM.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Climate Control

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I have two new best friends. And guess what?

They're machines.

Does this make me some sort of weird machine fetishist?

Regardless, Minnesota winters are long underwear and chapstick season. I've been sleeping under four blankets because my room doesn't get much heat from the furnace and I've gone through multiple sticks of the sweet stuff.

No longer! So long as I never leave my room, I can bask in the warmth of Ms. Space Heater and Dr. Humidifier.

I feel like the Land of Delusional Happiness might not be such a bad place. It's likely to be similar to La La Land or The Land of Green Ginger.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Through the Springs

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Morning

Today started out retarded. Within 5 minutes of entering the gym, I landed in the springs. For those who don't understand - this hurts both the body and pride. My socks got destroyed and my shins have bright red vertical stripes now. The tramp suffers from a disfigured spring. If that wasn't enough, within 5 minutes of that, I lost a contact. Fuck.

After getting a new contact, the session was great. I got back a lot of my old skills and had a lot of fun. I was, however, pretty paranoid the rest of the session.

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Night

No photoshop on the above photo - long exposure.

Friday, January 9, 2009

New Litter Box

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You know my life's been anything but exciting when I'm talking about making a new (and improved) litter box. Fuck, what have I come to? Anyway, the old setup is on the left; the new one is one the right. In the old setup, there was litter everywhere and even some shit and piss on the wall - seriously. Now, however, all that shit's contained in a large tupperware. I cut a nice pretty hole in the side with a jigsaw.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Trampoline | Tumbling

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Coach had me open the gym today cuz she was out eating dinner. I supervised about 5 students for a little over an hour; it was a jolly good time. Unfortunately, since it's fucking frigid these days, it takes forever to warm up. If I sat down for more than 5 or 6 minutes, I started feeling cold...

I'll leave you with a funny photo I found.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

They Come at Night

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Woke up at twilight.

Went to Twisters for the first time in like 5 months, till about 20:00.

I will be up all night.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

ゆかぽん、ゆみぽん、

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ありがとうございました!

今日のほうがクリスマスよりうれしいよ!

ほんとう ほんまに!

感動させてもらった。

Monday, January 5, 2009

Pierogi

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Photo 1: I had never eaten at the uptown diner before. I had also never eaten a pierogi before. It was tasty and the beer made me feel good, which is nice.

Photo 2&3: Cal, Erika and I had great conversations about psychedelics and photography in the freezing night.

Photo 4: For some reason, I woke up in the night, drunk, and took a photo. I remember doing this, but not why.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

The New Buca's Sucks

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Apparently Buca's was bought by Planet Hollywood.

They changed their bread; olive oil is no longer a standard "on-table" condiment.

We ordered a simple caesar salad and spaghetti with meatballs. The spaghetti was good, but the caesar tasted diluted.

FUCK YOU PLANET HOLLYWOOD! YOU RUINED MY FAVORITE CAESAR SALAD! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU! I LOVE CAESAR SALAD AND YOU KILLED IT! YOU FUCKING KILLED MY FAVORITE!

pardon my French.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

All Day on Dragon Quest XIII

Morning

Another night on a couch. The sky was overcast at noon, but it still seemed too bright as I, a dehydrated zombie, walked out of Maria's this morning. (photo)

Day/Night

Another day on a couch. Dragon Quest XIII. 6? 7? 8? hours? of gameplay and I'm thoroughly addicted. It's the first of the Dragon Quest series I've ever played; I'm usually more of a Final Fantasy guy. It looks like that's gonna change though. Meet my new best friend! (below)

へぇぇ!?
ヲタクって?! 俺?! いや、そうじゃないよ!!



だって、たぶんちょっとだけね。

Friday, January 2, 2009

The Wannabe Actor

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Day

Got a new cellphone! Opted for the Samsung Propel.

Night

Party at Maria's! After one day of rest, I'm back at it. Old friends & new strangers. Jello Shots. High School Girl. Pizza at 2:30? Beer Pong. Dancing on Tables. A Wannabe Actor.


Above, two interesting specimens. As for the guy on the ceiling, he was in the circus? What? As for the one with beer spilt on his shirt, he made it clear that he is in "a very well known" acting program at UMN. All night he broke in and out of character. Apparently he thought it would be a good idea to practice his acting all night long at a party by taking on the character of [?mister raspy voice?] from Arrested Development. Did this grow old? Yes, immediately. Maybe he didn't realize that laugh tracks don't exist in real life; all he got from most people was "shut the fuck up" or "you're an asshole." I think he's probably one of the most vain people I've met in months. He'd say shit like "See what I'm doing now? It's an acting technique. It draws the audience in. It's called [blah blah blah]." I think he was confused when hordes of starstruck girls weren't throwing their virginity at his feet - reality check? As much as I didn't like him, he did have booze. So, when everyone else was dry, I did some real acting; I acted like I cared more about what he had to say then the shots he was pouring. I hope he does become famous so I can watch fame eat him alive. Wow. I might be a tad judgmental, bordering on bitterness...

Thursday, January 1, 2009

New Years Day :: Wokeup at 5PM

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09:00

Wakeup. Less than 4 hours ago we were still stumbling the streets. We searched for the car like zombies; mindless; smelly.

At the time, I thought that a city might make a good metaphor for life. We're all in the city, we're all in life. There are many paths, crossroads, and shortcuts. There are many ways to get to the same place. The difference between safety and danger can be one block in the wrong direction. Etcetera. Etcetera. So I shot the above photo. In retrospect, the idea screams cliche. But fuck it, I don't care. I was hungover and sleep deprived.

10:00

Back in EP; back to sleep.

17:00

Wakeup. Ugggggghhhhhhhhhh. 5PM. What the fuck.