Sleep? Oops.

Remember, always have the correct amount of sleep to be able to function in the world you are living in. In other words, do not find a game and the correct hardware and stay up until 4 a.m. unless there is no school the next day, even then it is a bad idea. It took nearly a day and a half of looking for hardware drivers then a new card, which really isn't new, and then looking for drivers for it based on the fact that the chips and fan were set at a 45 degree angle to the board. It is quite the identifier in one line of graphics cards however within that line there is the GT line which all have the 45 degree offsets. So I got it running off of a driver that probably is lost in too much memory seeing as the driver was for a 6200 and the card could have been 6600. Oh well.

So once the card was running I got the game running, that caused this wild goose chase, in "safe mode" which is a whole hell of a lot better than anything my previous card could do. And now there are things due, places to go, people to meet, blogs to write, and many other numerous things that do not sound good, even though I have coffee and water in front of me and a machine that definitely won't run the game. (Using a school computer.)

So now I am writing about my project, or well writing this when I get stuck on something writing about my project. As seen above my mind is not what it should be today, or where it should be. It isn't even wandering, it's just laying there as though, well, insert a good metaphor here. And now back to write a few more sentences on very important document...

Okay, that was not fun, trying very hard to concentrate and finish, even this sentence. I paused right before "even this sentence" and could not figure out how to word it. I think I need sleep. But really want to write more, both for a grade and for this. Oh yes, and for stories, going to have to make a story timeline because write now my idea editor, Thomas, has no idea how I am structuring my thoughts, since right now I am just writing bits and pieces. I am really happy though to have somebody comment on, well right now, very scattered thoughts that make sense to me but obviously not to someone else. Seeing as he knows me better than say the public at large I would say that this is a good indicator that I need to rethink quite a bit of how I am going about writing the story. Thanks Thomas.

Last week, for those who aren't in Laramie was in the single-digits and teens for almost the entire week, add on 30 to 50 mph winds on top and you get well below zero apparent temperature. Today it should get to 45 or 50 degrees, a perfect summertime temperature. It's been nice that we have actually had winter this year so we might be able to enjoy summer, unless it gets too warm, this time though I have a basement, so it will stay nice and cool if we turn off the heater.

Finished the last game of concessions for the UW men's basketball season, they probably won't play at home again, and I'm glad. I was helping out the fencing club with fund raising and I had previous contacts so now the club will be able to replace just about all of the equipment and get a few new items that we haven't had before. Working food service makes you realize just how badly food is handled, we, as the club, actually were quite clean compared with some of the people that worked with us. So I am happy to be done selling very overpriced food and beverages to those who think they need it for such a short time. Oh well, we got free food in the deal, but the food left a lot to be desired after a few hot dogs or pretzels, even spread over a few games.

So, in conclusion, I need sleep. Otherwise I might faceplant while still writing this last sentence, must... hit..... publish....and log-off.

Long, long time, no write

If there are any of you out there that I scared away because of not writing, well then I must have an audience of some type or another. But I highly doubt that there are many people that constantly read my ramblings especially since the total deprivation for 2 months would have been catastrophic to any relying on my tantalizing story.

Just took a test that I am sure I didn't ace but certainly did well on, have to see though, could be interesting. If the weather gets any nicer than it will be considered summer here considering that 60 degrees F above the coldest temperature without windchill puts us at 40 degrees. At least we didn't get the New York snow, we still have snow melting from December and another skiff that just makes it brighter outside.

Lots of birds out there, Chickadees, Robins, Pine siskins, haven't heard any ruby-crowned kinglets yet but it feels like April already, well at least April before the drought. Saw a piece of crow wing with a bone slightly connected, maybe the raven that I saw flying around got it, or the 30 to a 100 other crows got it, who knows.

Anyway, off to class.

The End is Here!

No more for a few weeks. Then it is back to the grindstone.

Three weeks, six tests

Two homeworks, or three and a lab. Oh yes and a paper that I nearly forgot. Oh well, hopefully I will live. most of my plans are going forward in the next week, sending in the JET application being near the top along with homework and tests and a few other things.

I ran four miles on Turkey day to help fund raise for a children's hospital. I finished at about 33 minutes. Pretty good for not having done long distance flat running. Then on Saturday I fenced the day away, I should have brought something to do because it was technical failures after technical failures. I think before we hold a tournament here again I am going to go through the equipment myself, after all it is really very simple circuits, and I believe there might actually be some logic gates! Oh fun, I really want to open up a box and see what is inside! But who knows, we might not use our boxes the rest of the year. Just the swords, cords, and lamets (sp?). Oh well, can't do everything. There was a kid who said that he would build some wireless equipment but since then I have not seen him. It is too bad that I already have a Senior project. What's a little more though? Death, if I continue my current schedule of not doing much except for what is absolutely necessary. I need to break that habit.

How soon will the end come?

I am not talking about the end of the world, just the semester, but I guess that means tests. Just now looking up the testing times. I have one on Wednesday and two on Friday. The one on Wednesday is German, the two are Probability and Stochastic Processes (Statistics with integrals and billed as a "Friendly introduction for Electrical and Computer Engineers") and the dreaded Electronics class. I hope I pass electronics, I really do because otherwise next semester is a mess not to mention taking nearly 19 hours if I have to retake that class.

The hardest class next semester should be the operating system design class, I hear it is lots of programming, not fun. But the class on modern robots and softbots should be extremely fun since it is being taught by a very good professor. Can you tell I want this semester to be over, I will leave behind some good memories further in the past, but, so is life, sais la vis.

What I am looking forward to with even more good cheer is the end of undergraduate schooling. If I manage to get out of here and start working, to teach English in Japan or work in industry, then I will be fairly happy. Happier of course if I get into the JET program, but if it doesn't go that way then I will be looking for a job in Germany more than likely.

Monday morning I was able to sprint the Hurlathon on the stair that we do twice a week. I mean actually sprint, I had run the entire exercise and this is where I usually stop because that is hard to do on its own without the hurlathon. We run up to the top of the first colored chairs, then down, cross over and run up to the same row. Then come back to the first side and run up to the top of the different colored chairs, do this until the top is reached. Do the top a total of four times and then work down to lower and lower levels. When finally finished with that pattern sprint to the top four times in a row. Most people don't sprint but I flew up those stairs, I was surprised by my increase in strength since the beginning of the school year. I guess I should be doing more school work. It sounds like bragging I think but it is just how it is, now if I can get up tomorrow morning for the Thursday run that will be great.

The Day Before Tomorrow

That day is today. Ach! and today means that tomorrow is coming soon. The faster and faster progression of days will lead to other days, but now I am finally looking at these days in a somewhat better light. Actually I like the nights better, if there is a moon it is nearly as easy to see as in daylight and if there isn't then it still isn't so bad as some people think. It isn't quite as cold as it should be here this time of year. Some people are wearing short-sleeves and not because they are used to the cold as is the case in the spring when twenty degrees feels balmy. This morning was finally colder than the sixty degree days we have been having the last two weeks. When snow falls again and the temperature never gets above forty for months on end and hopefully the snow doesn't melt the day after it falls. If it gets down to negative twenty or thirty again then it will be a good winter. If it were to stay that cold, to keep the snow around of course, then it would be a real winter again. I wonder if my generation even remembers winters, real winters not the warm ones these days.

Relaxing, Really

The more I try the harder it gets, to relax that is. I was able to relax when I went home for a total of 23 hours. That certainly helped, but I am still really wound-up, it has been like this for nearly a month, maybe a little less. I feel like I have so much energy and yet no place to expend it. I do fencing, Kendo, and ping-pong something of three days a week, I also run stairs in the mornings twice a week although I admit I missed one today. I am extremely tired at the same time though, it seems as if I was carrying something very heavy but only when I think about it.

More specifically I think I passed all of my exams last week. Two exams, a presentation, and on the Saturday before I had the Fundamentals of Engineering exam, an eight hour monster standard throughout the US that is the precursor to getting the PE or Professional Engineer's License. Fun! The presentation was definitely the highlight of the week. I taught people how to fold cranes in German. Most of them got it and I was complimented on it by my professor.

Now I know it might sound disingenuous to say that I might be in Japan next year because my Germany plan fell through because I just want to finished with schooling, but... I am applying for the JET program to go teach English to Japanese students somewhere in Japan. Fun! Fun really, not joking this time. I just hope that I will learn lots of Japanese.