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Finally, I got to throw some frisbee around last night. Owen provided his true 10gram frisbee for the occasion and a couple of us went out to the grassy haven inbetween AJ and Pritchard for some frisbee fantasia. Was delightful. Although it got dark really fast, mainly because we didn’t go outside until about 7:20ish and so it was incredibly hard to see. And then factor in the fact that we were all throwing as fast as we feasibly could…so…that was exciting. Hopefully, this will become a regular event, I really need some more frisbee to make up for the summer of none.

My sociology course is becoming somewhat more interesting. Perhaps it was just today, and today only, but, as you can see from the Connotations, things are getting just slightly more entertaining. Also my prof has this awkward obsession with Full Metal Jacket. He says he watches it with his grandkids. Hmm. Well, at least he’s able to keep me more so awake during class. That’s a plus.

Yay! for Apple! for releasing the upgraded PowerBooks! The biggest change is the 15″ which now has the full brushed aluminum casing and many upgrades on that (notably the backlit keyboard). And, my future, 12″ PowerBook will have the availability of 1.256GB of memory instead of just 640MB. Anyways, I’m happy. This week of work definitely needed some high octance supercharge.

Being a friend of ergonomics and efficiency I decided to get rid of my messenger/saddle bag for my laptop. Instead of the supreme uncomfort of that carry-all I put my money into a Targus Sport BackPack. So far I am truly impressed. First, it provides way more protection for my laptop than my previous carrier could even if I got rid of all the accessories I regularly carry around. Secondly, it weighs almost nothing with my laptop in it; the cushioning and back support is definitely worth two thumbs up. And lastly, it looks fairly good; I won’t sugarcoat my opinion about the backpack in this area, but not to say it looks retarded or anything. Whatever. Anyways. So yeah, I finally got around to getting a comfortable thing. And he was glad.

Tomorrow is the Texas A&M game. I will go to this one. Hopefully, it will provide some fun, while I let my homework and such be forgotten.

Speaking of which, I had an integral calculus test today and got plenty of homework ready for myself this weekend. Fun. This work has really been keeping me from getting done the amount of graphic work I want to be completing for the new layout. Arg. Sometime I’ll finish it. Yeah.

Since I have nearly no homework for my next EF class, I have this strange open expanse of time in which I can freely blog today. This may never happen again so enjoy it, as will I.

I was so shocked when I saw a news headline on tv saying ‘Remembering John Ritter.’ I had no clue about his death until Saturday night (he passed on the 11th) and it was so out of harmony with my day that it was nearly a brute kick in the stomach for me. I absolutely loved the soft-humor of Ritter. While he was casted for a low-grade sitcom that ABC needed to fill time and make up for losses incurred from low ratings, he still fit the role amply enough to help the series glide for the time. But I way more so remember Ritter from the Problem Child films. I was addicted to those films when I was younger; Junior and Little Ben Healy (wow good times). My sympathies go out to all who knew John Ritter closely.

As you can tell I returned to VT safely and with tons of food…and muffins…lots of muffins. The weekend went rather well but it’s good to be back at Tech too. Note of travel: on the way too L-burg, I saw a Mazda RX-8 (rotary, with suicide doors). I nearly freaked when I saw it passing us. This particular one was silver and b-e-a-utiful. So good. And on the way back to Tech I saw a Lotus Esprit V8 ::awesome:: Unfortunately, my camera was inaccessible to me on both accounts, but trust me I would have gotten some great video and priceless shots of the fab autos.

And for the record, I have officially ascertained the advantages of my Clie now that I have put it to good use. Of course, I will implement it more once I get a ::sadness:: Memory Stick for expansion, but right now it’s holding a lot of good photos that I can look at…whenever I want…meaning like…even now if I decided so….Yeah, maybe I haven’t really done much with my PDA…

But, Strong Bad has come out with a new Teen Girl Squad comic. A perfect 10 out of 10, just like my EF Math Assessment grade !!!

Good news people! I’m making progression on the new design. I know it may seem that I’m holding back on releasing anything, but I don’t want to publish anything that isn’t thought-provoking or at least psuedo-interesting. Plus, I’m experimenting with things I haven’t used before, so give me some flexibility here and stop commenting on the blue…

So I’m at home right now making use of the ::gasp:: dial-up connection we get here from the world’s worst internet provider. But so far, I’m enjoying the short time away from the stuffy dorm feeling. Now it’s my normally 80+degF room. Hmm. No good common ground here. But I’d like to take this opportunity to shout out to my *few* peeps at VT who, I’m sure, are doing something amazingly fun tonight within each of their various forms of entertainment; we’ll spend some quality time Sunday night on homework, I promise.

Applause to Apple on the new iPods. And the PBs better get an upgrade soon, or, as Jeremiah says, we’ll likely notice an uncomfortably high suicide rate. I believe he was somewhat sarcastic with that remark. I believe.

Due to the glorious weather on the 11th, I took my A70 out for an early afternoon shoot. Burrus had flags at half-staff, what to say? I watched a FoxNews report on 9-11. I still can’t fathom, not close. No words to describe what I see, and no less confusion in describing it first hand. I sincerely reflected during my time of photography. Quite a day of solemn simplicity. And I definitely listened to Toby Keith’s “Courtesy Of The Red, White, and, Blue.”

I took advantage of this being at home opportunity to visit my life-blood retailer. Many sales allowed me to get the new John Mayer cd, O Brother, Where Art Thou? DVD, Fight Club DVD, and the Antwone Fisher DVD for a cheap combined total. I’m also looking for a laptop backpack for convenience because my saddlebag is not sufficient in carrying this massive piece of machinery across campus, but I will look with more urgency tomorrow if I go anywhere.

Then I was able to enjoy a venti Frap at B&N with some tech mags and a worn-in comforter chair. I cruised through some pro-PC mag that bashed the iSight but had an interesting article on WiFi handhelds. It seems that everytime I get to read a mag about handhelds, or even just an article, it makes me wish that I would implement my Clie into my life some more. Right now it is just a memo pad. That’s it. I haven’t taken the time to figure out how to incorporate photo sharing and such but I really should sit down with the software and try out some of the, I’m sure, useful apps it has. Perhaps I should plan on some extra time with that this weekend. Maybe. But my homework is likely to consume me tomorrow. Poo.

So let me quickly type out my thoughts on the new John Mayer cd, Heavier Things. First, let it be known that I’m not impressed. All of a sudden every track has a mello, sentimental feel to it. What happened to the angst and sarcasm of “Love Song For No One”? This cd is just plain…precious, in the terminology of giggly tweens. Each song is basic and straightforwardly toned-down from its predecessor album, Room For Squares. Hmm, it’s not a great album, but perhaps it was worth the $10 I spent for it. Still not sure though, I need some more listens. Oh well, I still can enjoy his music. I was just simply hoping for more. Although, the lyric book is by far the most clever and creative book I have ever seen. Sadly, I may have been thrilled more so by the book than by thiis music.

Wrapping up: Yeah, I think I’m done talking now. Note: I miss my T19 and no webcam shot for this blog.

Right now I feel completely mentally dead. Last night, and evening, and day, and the day before that I worked entirely on my Engineering Fundamentals homework. And after my class today, I’ve been assigned an equally gruesome amount of sleep-inducing study. I know this is just part of the plan to weed out those kids who can’t keep up with the level of work involved in the VT Engineering program, but I am, through past experiences, very vulnerable to physical illness when my brain is shot. I suppose I’ll be taking a nice amount of vitamins in the near future.

Nothing to report about life. I’ve been doing homework for my classes, helping people with homework, and getting help with homework. Although I got to hear some Virginia Beach local bands late this morning when I was over at Abigail’s helping her out with MATLAB stuff. That was good.

Yeah, so this is basically the only break I’ve had this week. I’m supposed to go home this weekend, but most likely I’ll just be spending that time doing homework at a more remote location rather than immediately around the people who can help me if I get stuck. Although, I guess most people will be doing the work Sunday night anyways, and I’ll be getting back by that time. Oh well. I just don’t want to end up noticing a drastically numeric change in when I get to bed. I don’t know what those experts are talking about, but if I get a good 7 hour sleep then I could go all day without a breakfast.

I’m going to attempt to archive these webcam shots. At some point in my college career I’ll get to it. But on a more soon-coming note, I plan on getting the new John Mayer cd while I’m home this weekend; his music is also somewhat relaxing, but again, nothing can beat the fury of Strong Bad. This has been my update.

Today has been rather…something. Normal I suppose, but the college-sized workload is becoming more of a reality. Yeah, ok, let me get this out of the way before I pass out.

I took my first basic skills calculus test at the Emporium on Sunday. I got 4 out of 6. Let it be known that we get 12 shots at each test, so I went back today. This time around I got 6 out of 6. My AP Calc class last year truly came in handy as I remembered something straight from a differentiation identities lesson. I could explain, but I’m not sure how to show mathematical formulas in DreamWeaver. Anyways, so I left there very excited and more experienced in using the BT.

So whatever, then tonight I reached my running limit - somewhere around 6.5 miles. Of course there were some different environment factors involved, including the fact I didn’t have any fuel beforehand and the fact that the air outside was cold. Regardless, I finally succombed to a major cramp that nearly froze my stomach. Yeah, that’s about it. It was a wonderful experience.

I have nothing else to say.

Except this: I got some new layout inspiration so a spectacular design is on the way.

Right now I’m listening to the totally incredible roar that echoes throughout Blacksburg as Tech scores yet another touchdown against the Dukes. Skipper makes for a nice clap of thunder as well. Somehow these mammoth chears make me think of ancient Israel during their historic journey into the Promised Land. God had told them that they would not have to fight for the fine land promised to them, but often He would have them let out roars and collosal clamors to frighten the enemy. Anyways, I love hearing the magnitude of the revelry. I find it fascinating.

So, I got to see a lot of ‘downtown’ Blacksburg yesterday. Abigail and I walked for miles (not the 10 minutes some nice coffee shop guy had figured) to get to Wade’s grocery store. At least it provided for great conversation. But sorry, Abigail, I still don’t like American cars for any conceivable reason.

Then that night we went to the amateur presentation of the even more immature film, The Italian Job. It was held in one of the lecture halls in Squires; McBryde would have been thousands of times better and more comfortable, but nooo. Plus they couldn’t do reel changes so there would be 5 minute long intermissions completely randomly spaced within scenes. And let’s not forget it started 30 minutes late. Yeah, and the movie wasn’t good. It’s more/less a really poor version of Ocean’s Eleven. While Eleven was phenominal, Italian Job just doesn’t cut it in any aspect of theatrical production. Anyways, don’t go see it, unless you are a Mini Cooper addict and desire a 10 minute long chase scene featuring some moderately entertaining shots (and sounds) of Coopers in their GO mode.

Today, I succeed in becoming so awesome that I literally can’t stand it anymore. I completed my first Engineering Fundamentals (EF) project on design. Took approximately 3 hours total. However competent I felt my work to be, I won’t really know how well I did until I can find out how my professor grades large assignments such as this. Oh well, I’m becoming incoherent to myself and would prefer to stop talking before this becomes truly random.