i prefer pi

11/30/2004

• A comment on a draft that I handed in: “These are good sources, but don’t forget they should only aid you in making YOUR argument. You can use them but not haphazardly, like don’t throw a bunch of random quotes at me and expect me to be impressed.”

Unknown

• “I had an aunt one time — no, actually it was my mother’s sister — who told me that…”

Every semester I have one week so utterly packed with responsibilities that I’m never quite sure how I’ll make it through alive. Last fall it was Dinner Discussion/CPSC 311 homework/Graphics 641 project on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and two tests on Thursday. I don’t remember exactly what I had to do in the spring, but it was so bad that I was reduced to posting statistics about how little I’d slept. This week, I have short papers and comments due in Philosophy tomorrow, an outline to redo and a draft of a ~10-page paper to finish by Friday, our final project for my graduate class (also due on Friday), an informational session panel on Tuesday night (when I’m also supposed to be on duty), and as much of my research project as I can humanly complete. I got a lot done over the Thanksgiving break, but not enough, I suppose. Tonight looks clear with no chance of sleep, and I’ll be partly groggy tomorrow with a chance of naps in the late afternoon. Looking ahead to the five-day forecast, I predict more late nights and another sleepless Thursday, with things breaking up and a concert of note on Friday evening.

With all of the illnesses going around and the fact that I’ll probably be running myself into the ground, I’m afraid that I may prematurely end my semester by getting sick. If you have the chance, please pray for my physical health, for diligence in completing my schoolwork and in staying on top of things here in the hall, for wisdom in taking care of myself, and for me to retain my saltiness even in the middle of busy times.

BishopCMB: that was an unusual conversation that I had with Mom just now
BishopCMB: she seemed very… eager… to get me off of the phone
BishopCMB: whereas usually I have to say “Okay, I really need to go now”
utopiaterra: yes i know
utopiaterra: she does it all the time now
utopiaterra: and she’s always doing things
utopiaterra: like she has a life
utopiaterra: outside
utopiaterra: of us!!!!
utopiaterra: US
utopiaterra: US
utopiaterra: US
utopiaterra: US
utopiaterra: dweet dweet dweet dweet
utopiaterra: bum bummmm!

Guy 1: “Dude, wouldn’t it be weird if sweat smelled like cookies?”
Guy 2: “Yeah! Or bread, too!”
Me: “…”

I’m going to be taking a several-week fast from recreational internet usage, which includes surfing, blogging, and AIM (except for class- and RA-use). There are two big reasons for why I’m doing this: first, my time spent in prayer with God has been slipping, and I’m a hypocrite when I tell people that I’ll pray for them and then don’t do so; second, my schoolwork has also been slipping, and I have a massive load of things to accomplish before December 15th. I don’t want to cut myself off from human contact, however, so if you need to get ahold of me or you just want to talk, please send me an e-mail or call my room @ 7-6639. I would appreciate your prayers for me as I trust the Father to work on me as I seek Him:

1    To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.
2       I trust in you, my God!
    Do not let me be disgraced,
        or let my enemies rejoice in my defeat.
3   No one who trusts in you will ever be disgraced,
        but disgrace comes to those who try to deceive others.
4   Show me the path where I should walk, O LORD;
        point out the right road for me to follow.
5   Lead me by your truth and teach me,
        for you are the God who saves me.
        All day long I put my hope in you.

For anyone who has ever done any computer programming, you know that eliminating a particularly rascally bug in your code can be an incredibly rewarding experience. On the other hand, you know that 99.98% of the bugs that you run into are Your Own Stupid Fault, and sometimes the solution is so glaringly obvious that even when you finally Win, you know that you’re still a Loser. I used to write little notes to myself, encouraging me to not be so dumb, but those are lost somewhere in the recesses of time and of Hart Hall; therefore, I’ve decided to take my eShame to the World-wide Web. Presented for your amusement:

for (int j = 0; j < 5; i++)


Guess what, ninny — if you don’t want access errors, you should probably use the same iterator variable as you’re using for random access.

My plan of going to the later (church) service this morning was thwarted when the campus (and consequently, my dorm) lost power around 10:45. The CIS Problem web-site says that a breaker between us and Bryan was thrown. Ian and I were the only staff on-hand at the time, so I stuck around to make sure that nothing “went down” as they say. Power restored ca. 11:45.

Yesterday was a good day: badminton and running with Andrew, Daniel and James at the Rec; lunch with Pedro at Sbisa; in my last home football game as an undergrad, the Aggies defeated Texas Tech (for the first time since I became an undergrad), 32-25 in overtime; standing with a whole mess of RUFers and pizza and hot chocolate afterwards; a bit of pattern recognition homework; walked around the soon-to-be-dedicated Bonfire Memorial; hung out with the last of the TAGD Ninjas Vs. Ninjas crew in the graphics lab; opened the window a crack, threw on an extra blanket, and went to bed. While we were drinking hot chocolate, I was also crowned the Chubby Bunny champion, but after a quick Google search turned up this page, I’ve decided to hang up my laurels. The internet ruins everything.

… apparently. I’ve only made three entries this month (well, four now) but my Google hits have jumped about twenty-fold over last month. in fact, I’ve gotten six times as many visits from search engines in the last twelve days than I did during the five month period from June to October. Color me confused.

Since people have been asking if I’m okay, I suppose that I ought to update. Classes have actually been looking upwards lately. It appears that a B in my graduate pattern recognition course is within grasp, although there is still quite a lot of work to be done. I spent about 5 days working on a Bonfire bulletin board for Crocker, and I’m fairly pleased with the way that it turned out (if I had to change some things, I’d abbreviate it a bit more — there are over 9000 words up there, and I doubt that most people will read most of them). Swimming and running has been improving, and I’m really enjoying the cold snap that moved in this week.

The signs of old age — unkempt facial hair, erratic sleeping schedule, decreased contact with family and friends — are starting to set in as the date of my “funeral” approaches. Nevertheless, I’m not dead yet, and with the semester tumbling headlong toward finals, it’s time for me to set my eyes on the prize, to throw off everything that hinders, to go up and possess the land, to run with endurance — to finish strong!

Actually, I haven’t laid my hands on a controller. However! My roommate Logan came back to the room with the game this morning, and I’ve spent most of the day half-listening/half-watching him play while I worked on schoolwork. Furthermore, I haven’t watched the multiplayer part for more than 5 minutes, which, for most people, will be the real reason to buy and play the game. As a final disclaimer, I played through the original Halo campaign exactly once, right after the game came out, and I’ve never been a fan of multiplayer, mostly since I stink at it.

That being said, (and setting aside questions about whether games are really worthwhile endeavors at all) I think that it’s a pretty awesome game. The visuals, including shader and shadowing effects are very nice, and the articulated detail in the character models is amazing, especially in close-up shots of the Prophets during cinematic sequences. There are some peculiar graphical artifacts, however, that appear to occur when switching from low to high-detail geometry and textures. Very visible popping, and a generally distracting flashing effect on textured surfaces. It doesn’t ruin the game, by any stretch of the imagination, but you’d think that they would have ironed it out before launch.

The story is equally cool. It covers a lot more depth and you get a lot more characterization, and it definitely takes the player in a direction that I doubt that most people will expect. The ending, however, will come unexpectedly. Penny Arcade wasn’t lying when they said that “Halo 2 goes to the credits at the very moment the story begins to glow hot with heat” (aside: I’m not sure what else it would glow hot with). Very cool, but very abrupt. I can only wonder if it’s a grand setup for Halo 3, if more content can be unlocked, or if they simply ran out of time.

On a random note, if you bought the Collector’s Edition with the DVD of extras, I’ve been to the park that they show towards the beginning of the “Behind the Scenes” video — it’s where we had our DirectX shipping party/morale event this summer (blog entry, photos). I’m almost famous!

I spent most of yesterday afternoon working on a Bonfire bulletin board to be posted in the dorm. I read through the Bonfire Commission’s findings on the 1999 collapse, all 130-odd pages. I read Battalion articles from my freshman year when there was a big push for Bonfire ‘02. I read old threads on Hobbes from people who were here when it fell.

I do not understand why people choose to participate in off-campus bonfires. I do not understand the mentality that says “We will do this so that their deaths were not in vain.”