Kubuntu

So I'm overdue for a post. Heck - if Beth has figured this stuff out, I've got to at least keep a little ahead.

Let's see... the past 8 months. Hmm. I've hardly played the guitar or the piano. I've been skirting my time between graduate stuff and homework. And believe it or not, the climax of nearly every week is the ill-fated bowling night. I bought a see-saw and ball polish to help the cause.

I have managed to use my time for some typical Eli objectives, however. I was able to make 4 or 5 boomerangs this past week. I'm trying to get ready for a ward activity. I'll need about 20. Right now I'm up to 10 (plus the remains of the "giga-rang").

Speaking of remains - I've got the hard-drive of Rachelle's dead laptop sitting on my desk. I'm becoming less and less convinced that Hewlett Packard knows how to make a decent product beyond printers.

My thesis is coming along slow and steady. I've spent about $5000 of the school's money trying to outfit our lab so it can do what I need it to. I've got a pretty sweet laptop coming for that same project. It should hit this week. I've been up to my elbows in thermocouples, data acquisition, power supplies, heating wire, thermal epoxy, hypodermic tubing, and thermostatic baths. Everything costs way too much. It's ridiculous. And everywhere I turn, I'm surrounded by Chinese people who are several times smarter than I am. Slightly crazier, each of them, but smarter nonetheless.

So to keep a little ace in my back pocket, I've been brushing up my linux skills. I finally cleaned off my old drive (accidentally deleted about 1000 photos and a good 50 or more movies - oops. I was tired of fighting admin rights with multiple operating systems.) I installed a debian based OS on my old IDE drive called "kubuntu". It's the KDE interface of ubuntu. It's not too shabby. And the nice thing is, the nerdier I get, the more I can take advantage of all those programmers who hate all things Microsoft. What does that mean for the average bloke? About $6000 of free software. For instance, linux programmers have two different open-source math programs to compete with MatLab. A MatLab license is roughly $3000. It's just nice to learn a little of what gets used a lot behind the server scenes as well.

Speaking of Microsoft - I was on the phone with them for 4 or more hours the other day. I finally got my OEM issuses resolved by their Indian department by a tech named "Prasad". I was also on the phone with MathCAD - more licensing activations. It's all behind me now, though. I'm running a decent speed on my SATA drive, and all programs are properly maintained. I bought a new desk chair to celebrate. The old one I had was nothing more than a camping fold-out chair. Try getting 8 hours in on one of those!

So I'm supposed to be at FHE right now, but my diet of granola bars and Dr. Pepper has let me down. Funny how you can't last long on whatever tastes good. And a test I thought was set for Friday was bumped up to Wednesday. If I'd attend class more, I wouldn't have the syllabus rug pulled out from under me so often...

So Luke kindly let me know about his most recent fatherhood the afternoon of the 11th. That rat told me twins. Leave it up to a podunk to come up with some nonsense during life's most precious moments. It was actually pretty cheeky, though - I'll give him that. I'm calling her "Pete" from now on.

So incase you're wondering - no, there won't be any pictures or videos on this post. I've got a gig or so of new stuff on my camera, but I just can't be bothered to upload. That'll be next Spring Break's agenda.

Anyway - I've got to get ready for that test, and get ready some homework that's due on Wednesday as well.

I'll throw some photos up here another time. I'd hate to think that I've disappeared off the family radar. Heaven knows Theo thinks of me at least bi-weekly.

A few photos from the past 6 months...

So I figured since I haven't posted any pictures for a long time, maybe I was due. I'm at the school right now. Not the nerd lab - the normal lab. Someone around me was farting up a storm just moments ago - but since she left, and the serenity returned, I figured I'd use the high bandwidth to post some pictures that are already floating around the internet...

There's some of my grad project - or of a similar project anyway. A lot of bowling, and a couple from the river trip we took in August.

Dr. XianRong Zhuo - he's on my project. Jon Bingham is on a similar project.

White-water rafting at Snake River - the end of the summer.

This guy was so drunk! He was bowling next to us. Crazy.

My Halloween costume. Yep - wore it at the basketball game.

248

So I bowled a 248 the night of the GRE. I had a Turducken with garnish. A "turkey" is 3 strikes in a row, so I figure a "duck" can be 2, and a "chicken" a single strike. I had 7 in a row - which is a full Turducken (a sixth) plus garnish (the seventh).

My last high score was a 191.

I'm planning to come down to a friend's wedding reception this Saturday in Salt Lake City - and to stay with the Punjabs. I've got to be back to Logan by 6 on Sunday.

Next week, I can leave as early as Tuesday. Provided I get my homework done, it should be no problem to be ready to try out Noah's new pimped ride Wednesday morning or afternoon.

Work is going fairly well. Boomerang production is down.

I found a girl with a small nose and a good chin. We'll see if she can stand meeting the Punjabs this weekend.

GRE and Turducken

So I just left the testing center.

I didn't have to do the essays (which are scored 1-6) in order to get into the graduate program here at USU. I just had to do over a 440 Verbal and something decent (probably 600 or 650? -I forgot what the bar was set at) Quantitative.

I got 450 Verbal - and 790 Quantitative.

The 790 isn't bad - as 800 is perfect. So from the ACT's 33 in math, I've improved. 790/800 is higher than a 33/36. My reading is still piss poor though! Ha!

I'll start posting pictures up here soon. Typical nonsensical stuff.

I graduate with a bachelors in a month. I'm not walking - since I'll be back in this same lab mid January. I figure there's no real celebration if I'm going to stick around. I think the grad life will fit my lazy-through-and-wing-it lifestyle better than the undergrad.

Also - I've become an advocate of Turducken. Google search it if you need. Chicken in a duck in a turkey.

The Big (not who to marry) Decision

So I got my answer - I thought it'd require more work, but it came rather readily.

I'll decline Autoliv's offer. This upcoming week I'll need to be signing forms and whatnot to get ready to work with Dr. Ban and Dr. Nielson. It makes sense in that I'll be in Logan - not driving Sardine Canyon during the winter months. Also - I'm sure Autoliv would require a certain number of hours per week - 30 +, I'd wager - that I won't be able to do during a masters... if I'm to continue any socializing.

So that's the story for now.