Fear the Crab

Work was interesting, but only because of the conversations I was able to have. There was a little toddler boy who really really wanted a mini-recorder keychain, so badly in fact that he tried to break the glass door with his tiny fist when his mom finally dragged him out crying.

I got my first homework assignment for ICS 211. I had to make a web page, which will be the starting point for all those Java applets we are planning to make. The simplicity of this assignment is lulling me into a false sense of security; I’m trying to force myself to believe that it’s not going to be a cakewalk, just so I can take it seriously.

As far as ICS 241 goes, I finally managed to complete the first assignment. I don’t think it’s 100% correct, but at least I did what I could to the best of my understanding.

I helped Maile try and figure out why her printer isn’t displaying its status window. At first I thought it was because XP was installed over the printer drivers, but after I removed and reinstalled the drivers, that darn status window still didn’t show up. The printer still works, though.

Tonight’s UH football game:
Eastern Illinois – 36
Hawaii – 61

Not much to say about today. Work was the same, with nothing exciting happening nor was there anything worthwhile, significant, or contemplative enough to warrant an entry.

Talked to Maile on my break, and that made my day better. I told her that I was leaning towards the Toyota Tacoma as my new mode of transportation. I still have to do more research into the matter, but at least now I have a direction. Once I have acquired all the relevant information, I will then need to weed out the “fluff” that normally comes with advertising or self-promotion. However, it’s highly likely there’s a review web site out there that can give me objective information about the Tacoma.

Interestingly enough, Tacoma is where I went to college.

Tonight’s Invader Zim episode:
Bolognius Maximus

Don’t remember too much of what the dream was, but I know that Maile and I had taken Titan to this unfamiliar school. I couldn’t tell what kind of school it was (ie, elementary vs intermediate), but the fields were big and had plenty of room. I was leading Titan on a merry chase, letting him get his exercise, when I found myself in a different section of the campus. There was a picnic-party going on, with a whole crowd of people. Then this second great dane appeared and I knew it was a female, but she looked exactly like Titan. Titan and I were still running around (while Maile was off somewhere, probably laughing at us), and now the second dog joined in. So I had two great danes mock-chasing me around the field, and I kept thinking that I was going to trip and fall what with so many legs around me.

I have discovered that a half hour can make a whole lot of difference in regards to the morning rush hour. On Tuesday I left the house at 0615 hours and it took me about an hour to get to campus. Today I left at 0530 and showed up within 20 minutes. From now on, I plan to wake up at 0400 on school nights so I don’t have to sit in traffic. Now I really have to consider changing my hours on Mondays.

If I’ve never said it before, I’ll say it now; I hate math. Linear algebra, geometry, those I’m fine with. Stuff like what I’m getting into makes my head full. I can actually feel my brain pulse and get all fuzzy when I’m trying to comprehend stuff like mathematical induction. My head is so unhinged I can’t even describe induction here.

I officially made a fool of myself in 211. The prof is a big stickler for audience participation, going so far as to give points for it. We were reviewing basic Java concepts, and we came to the subject of while-loops and for-loops. She asked, “How many times will a for-loop initialize?” I know about for-loops, so I raised my hand, and was called to answer. Unfortunately, I misheard the question to be, “How many time will a for-loop run?” so I answered, “At least once.” I was corrected with the answer that it is just once. Not at least. Only once.

Well, my answer was “sorta” correct. And at least I’ve made myself known to the professor. The question remains whether or not I got a point for “effort,” or a neutral, which doesn’t affect my participation at all.

George left a message on my cell phone, at around 1920 hours according to the time stamp. He was hanging out with some old friends, Chanelle and Kandi (from what I understood of the message). Unfortunately, I got the message perhaps 2 hours later, and considering that I had been up since 0400 I was feeling quite beat. It’s too bad; I would’ve like to have gone. Haven’t seen those two girls in ages.

I don’t remember too much of my dream, except for a scene where a strange man cut me across the abdomen with a this rusty steel bar. He didn’t cut me open, but try running something like a ruler across your stomach and that’s what it felt like.

Today was the first day of instruction for me, and it went as how I had expected. The math class (ICS 241 – Discrete Mathematics) is as fast-paced as 141, but at least this time the professor takes some time to explain just exactly how we’re supposed to solve things. It’ll take a while to see how well I’ll actually do in the class, however.

ICS 211 seems the same as 111 last semester; highly instructional and step-by-step. They don’t expect us to know everything, which is a big relief, and they’ll concentrate on actually teaching us something we’ll use later. The professor has a semi-thick Spanish accent, but is still understandable, and looks to be a lot of fun. The odds are looking good that I’ll do well in this one, provided I concentrate on working.

I also figured out how to work my wireless internet card, thanks to the helpful staff at the IT department. I downloaded some updated drivers and configured the card as per the University network. It seems my firewall then became the root cause of the problem, as it was blocking the signals for some strange reason. I told Maile that it seemed as though I had to do a little ritual each time I wanted the card to work; disable the firewall, disable the LAN, disable the wireless network connection, enable the wireless network connection, dance the “macarena,” and attempt to log on. I still don’t know if those are the right steps to do, but perhaps if I dance to the Bee Gee’s song “You Could Be Dancing” things might work better.

I may have to get a new car. My engine’s making strange noises, and this time around I’m not sure if it’s still the air conditioner, or some other problem. Regardless, the cost of repairs is starting to add up, and perhaps it’s time to move on. I can’t believe I even have to consider this, though, as Toyotas are generally known to be low-maintenance. I wonder if it’s because I have to drive into town, in heavy traffic, practically every single day. If I do get a new car, I am faced with the dilemma of what to actually get. Do I want another sedan? Should I go for something more “manly” and get a truck? Or something in-between, like an SUV? I also don’t know if I should stick with Toyotas, which tend to be among the more pricey of imports, or switch to Nissan, whose cars seem to have a good track record in regards to maintenance (from what I’ve seen and heard; many of my relatives own Nissans). The only thing I know for a fact is that I’m not going to buy American, as I have had bad experiences with American-made cars. European is definitely out of the question, too.

Well, for now, that’s just something to consider. I still have more important things to concern myself with, such as the homework that’s due next week.

Today was another boring day. Same old same old at work, it being Monday and a run night. The duty free run was surprisingly light, but that only meant I had more time to be bored.

Maile thinks it odd that I think about her a lot. I say it’s probably the only thing that’s keeping me sanely quirky.

I don’t remember too much, except that Maile and I were working for a syndicate whose boss was John Travolta, and he assigned me to scoop four different cereals into a mixture of what looked ranch dressing. The four cereals were Rice Crispies, Cocoa Crispies, Raisin Bran, and I think Cocoa Pebbles. I needed to take one tablespoon of each and dump it into the mixture, until the bowl was filled. Surprisingly, the four bags of cereal turned into women, whose hair was the color of the cereal I was scooping up. What was even more strange was that I would continue scooping, and this time I would scoop into their hair and come out with cereal. It seemed like they were prisoners of Travolta, and they tried to talk to me and get me to release them, but I kept scooping cereal because I didn’t want to get Travolta mad at me, not to mention I had no idea where Maile had gone off to, and I was worried that if I did something bad, something worse would happen to her.

Work was blah, as usual. There was nobody to talk to, so it was quite a relief to be able to take a break and talk to Maile on the cell phone. During work, I busied myself not by helping customers or tidying up the store, but rather jotting down some notes for a new zone I was planning to build on CheesyMUD. It’s a step up from the areas I previously built, because it’s going to incorporate several aspects I’ve never tried before (like mini-quests). It sounds hunky-dory in theory, but the actual implementation of my ideas may or may not pan out.

It seemed that I was not the only one who had a blah day. Maile related her excruciating experience at the beach. One might think it strange that people from Hawaii have bad experiences with beaches, but rest assured it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be. It was hot, the food was late in preparation, and those foodstuffs that were ready were quickly gobbled up by inconsiderate clods that had all the manners of a grapefruit.

Maile and I are a bit apprehensive about our respective classes this fall. It’s a mixture of not knowing what to expect and whether or not we’re capable of handling the workload. In the end the only thing we can do is hope, and try our best.

Tonight’s Invader Zim episode(s):
Attack of the Saucer Morons
The Wettening

Maile came to visit me at work today, and that was a most pleasant surprise. She had just finished dinner with Lori at a restaurant called Buca de Beppo (sp?), an Italian place at the Ward Entertainment Center. I had paged Maile during their dinner, and since they were in the neighborhood, they both decided to drop in and see how I was doing. It made the rest of work more bearable, especially since I was able to meet Maile at Zippy’s for a quick bite to eat. Maile just had a chocolate shake, while I had a hot cake sandwich.

I told Maile that the next time she visits, she has to bring Titan. We both had a big laugh about that, because he’d probably freak out the whole of Waikiki. In any case, I can still see him when I drop by her house, so it’s no big loss for me.