If you don't want things, you can't be sad if you don't get them. Therefore, no desires, no unhappiness. Fair enough.
I'd be a miserable Taoist right now, because I really really want to get a job at Google.
Let me tick off some great things about Google:
- They do everything better than everyone else (they just launched Google Translate!)
- They have the most data and the most interesting problems
- They treat their engineers like royalty; they give you everything you need to do your job
- um, well, free food... that is actually nutritious and appetizing.
- And did I mention the freakin' 20% time? This is so revolutionary and so smart. If you don't know what I mean (and get a little shiver when you think about the possibility of working for a company that lets you do that), click on the link.
- EDIT: "Don't be evil." That may be the greatest thing about them. So far, they're pretty much the least evil giant corporation that I can think of.
Let me continue by ticking off some great things about Seattle:
- Super cool neighborhoods
- Pike Place Market! (see #5 and #7)
- On the subject of food, the International District, featuring many Asian markets
- People (apparently) care about the environment and stuff
- Lots of young people, lots of nerds, thanks to all the tech companies
- The air smells good there! It is so lush!
- An hour or two from great skiing, and 4 hours from the best skiing anywhere.
Tomorrow I will know if my application is moving on! (I interviewed there on Friday) Wish me luck!
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Best day/best day
Hi! I'm back from the sunny and burning region known as Los Angeles. What a great two days! Although that's like saying "I was eating coffee-flavored ice cream. What a good food!" Of course it was great. I was traveling.
But Sunday in particular was like that improv game, best day/worst day, except it was just best day. I got all my homework for the week done on the plane (proof that I should stop worrying, because a week's worth of homework = five hours). Met my cousin and her husband (so my cousin-in-law?) who were supremely welcoming, which was nice, because going to LA is somewhat intimidating!
Side note: back when I was a little kid, my friends and I would make simple computer games. One that we made once was called "BOMB". The plot was summed up in one sentence: "Your goal is to dismantle a car bomb set to blow up the United States." So you'd travel to various cities and win money or lose money or get a bomb detector or something. Anyway, when you go to LA, the screen would display:
You get off the plane and somebody shoots you.
Then it beeped five times. The end!
End side note!
So there's that. Plus, it's so goshdarn big to see in one day. But thanks to Jessica and Matt, I felt right at home. They told me some cool places to go. I went there. I think I found some of the hipster/vegetarian/young/nerdy places, which is the kind of place I'd like to live. There were more secondhand clothing stores than I could shake a secondhand stick at. That is awesome! There were also a lot of trendy boutiques. That is not so awesome! There were some cool comic book stores. That is awesome! I have to read more graphic novels.
Dinner: awesome Mexican food at a restaurant called "El Compadre." Maybe it's just because of my preexisting bias that "LA Mexican food is so much better than midwest Mexican food", but man, LA Mexican food is so much better than midwest Mexican food. Hung out at the bar afterwards and watched the Indians get pounded. Okay, that was the one part of the day that doesn't qualify as "best day." BIG FROWNS. But the bartender bought me a beer as consolation (he was a Sox fan).
And then... this day wasn't awesome enough yet, so I noticed a sign on a restaurant advertising the Go! Team playing a concert that night. Wait, THE Go! Team? Awesome! After a half hour trying to find parking for this venue that I wasn't sure even existed, there I was, watching Bodies of Water (who seem pretty good... at least, they have two trombones) open for the Go! Team. Man, they are electric on stage! Even though their horns were just sampled, watching them do their thing was a blast. If you get a chance to see the Go! Team, you ought to.
Next day, my interviews were cool. It ain't professional to go into more details than that on a blog, I think. Let me say Burbank is really a bummer. It feels like a dusty old highway-stop town with a big old gob of Cheesecake-Factory "gentrification" or whatever they call it when someone tosses CF and friends at an otherwise-reasonable city.
LA is a little bit of a bummer too. At least there's something going on there, it's big enough. But it has downsides:
1. It feels junky! There's islands of glitz among a ton of junk. Nothing I saw felt anything near as welcoming or nice as Squirrel Hill.
2. It's so goddamn hot, which makes it feel junkier.
3. CARS EVERYWHERE. Not bikes or public transport.
But then, big up:
1. Awesome Mexican food everywhere.
Still, it's no match for Seattle, the Bay Area, Boston, or even Pittsburgh, in my mind.
But Sunday in particular was like that improv game, best day/worst day, except it was just best day. I got all my homework for the week done on the plane (proof that I should stop worrying, because a week's worth of homework = five hours). Met my cousin and her husband (so my cousin-in-law?) who were supremely welcoming, which was nice, because going to LA is somewhat intimidating!
Side note: back when I was a little kid, my friends and I would make simple computer games. One that we made once was called "BOMB". The plot was summed up in one sentence: "Your goal is to dismantle a car bomb set to blow up the United States." So you'd travel to various cities and win money or lose money or get a bomb detector or something. Anyway, when you go to LA, the screen would display:
You get off the plane and somebody shoots you.
Then it beeped five times. The end!
End side note!
So there's that. Plus, it's so goshdarn big to see in one day. But thanks to Jessica and Matt, I felt right at home. They told me some cool places to go. I went there. I think I found some of the hipster/vegetarian/young/nerdy places, which is the kind of place I'd like to live. There were more secondhand clothing stores than I could shake a secondhand stick at. That is awesome! There were also a lot of trendy boutiques. That is not so awesome! There were some cool comic book stores. That is awesome! I have to read more graphic novels.
Dinner: awesome Mexican food at a restaurant called "El Compadre." Maybe it's just because of my preexisting bias that "LA Mexican food is so much better than midwest Mexican food", but man, LA Mexican food is so much better than midwest Mexican food. Hung out at the bar afterwards and watched the Indians get pounded. Okay, that was the one part of the day that doesn't qualify as "best day." BIG FROWNS. But the bartender bought me a beer as consolation (he was a Sox fan).
And then... this day wasn't awesome enough yet, so I noticed a sign on a restaurant advertising the Go! Team playing a concert that night. Wait, THE Go! Team? Awesome! After a half hour trying to find parking for this venue that I wasn't sure even existed, there I was, watching Bodies of Water (who seem pretty good... at least, they have two trombones) open for the Go! Team. Man, they are electric on stage! Even though their horns were just sampled, watching them do their thing was a blast. If you get a chance to see the Go! Team, you ought to.
Next day, my interviews were cool. It ain't professional to go into more details than that on a blog, I think. Let me say Burbank is really a bummer. It feels like a dusty old highway-stop town with a big old gob of Cheesecake-Factory "gentrification" or whatever they call it when someone tosses CF and friends at an otherwise-reasonable city.
LA is a little bit of a bummer too. At least there's something going on there, it's big enough. But it has downsides:
1. It feels junky! There's islands of glitz among a ton of junk. Nothing I saw felt anything near as welcoming or nice as Squirrel Hill.
2. It's so goddamn hot, which makes it feel junkier.
3. CARS EVERYWHERE. Not bikes or public transport.
But then, big up:
1. Awesome Mexican food everywhere.
Still, it's no match for Seattle, the Bay Area, Boston, or even Pittsburgh, in my mind.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
God, please let the Indians win game 7
...for my dad's sake. He'll be bummed for approximately fourteen years if they lose.
Find YOUR spot, or, I (heart) internet surveys, or, I must be raciss as hell!
There is this website where you answer a bunch of questions and it tells you where you should live. Yeah, you know, internet blah blah blah, but they have a pretty thorough questionnaire, so I figure it's as good a recommendation as you can get for 5 minutes on the internet. Look at my results! Huh. I love this city!
Edit: link doesn't really work. Well, whatever. Here's the list it gave me. A little heavy on the crappy pseudo-northeast cities (Buffalo? Erie? um, Harrisburg?) but it reaffirms my belief that I really should live in the Pacific Northwest. Or Pennsylvania, apparently.
1. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
2. Carlisle, Pennsylvania
3. Worcester, Massachusetts
4. Hartford, Connecticut
5. Seattle, Washington
6. Providence, Rhode Island
7. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
8. Altoona, Pennsylvania
9. New Haven, Connecticut
10. Tacoma, Washington
11. Columbus, Ohio
12. Denver, Colorado
13. Erie, Pennsylvania
14. Spokane, Washington
15. Syracuse, New York
16. Rochester, New York
17. Portland, Oregon
18. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
19. Buffalo, New York
20. Albany, New York
21. Lancaster, Pennsylvania
22. Anchorage, Alaska
23. Nashua, New Hampshire
24. Olympia, Washington
Edit: link doesn't really work. Well, whatever. Here's the list it gave me. A little heavy on the crappy pseudo-northeast cities (Buffalo? Erie? um, Harrisburg?) but it reaffirms my belief that I really should live in the Pacific Northwest. Or Pennsylvania, apparently.
1. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
2. Carlisle, Pennsylvania
3. Worcester, Massachusetts
4. Hartford, Connecticut
5. Seattle, Washington
6. Providence, Rhode Island
7. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
8. Altoona, Pennsylvania
9. New Haven, Connecticut
10. Tacoma, Washington
11. Columbus, Ohio
12. Denver, Colorado
13. Erie, Pennsylvania
14. Spokane, Washington
15. Syracuse, New York
16. Rochester, New York
17. Portland, Oregon
18. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
19. Buffalo, New York
20. Albany, New York
21. Lancaster, Pennsylvania
22. Anchorage, Alaska
23. Nashua, New Hampshire
24. Olympia, Washington
Friday, October 19, 2007
I missed Blog Action Day!
This day happened a few days ago where everyone blogged about the environment. I forgot! so I am doing it now:
I think you should save the environment. There are two questions: how?, and why?
First, how? I don't know if it's possible to achieve a sustainable way of living without giving up major parts of the lifestyle that you and I have grown accustomed to. However, I'd like to give it a try. There are often easy ways to do this, and you can do it to, if you just think about it a little bit and go an even littler bit out of your way.
The answer is not "sell your car and hug a tree." It's not about going backward to the good ol' days before we had disposable plastic bottles and paper towels. It's about going forward and using our prodigious smarts to set up better systems.
For example: Note where you can recycle paper (example: the CMU recycling room!). Then, next to your trash can, keep a box. If you're going to throw paper away, put it in the box instead. When the box gets full (every couple months in my house) toss it in a big backpack and bring it to campus the next time you go. Ta-da! You no longer waste paper. Total elapsed time: maybe 10 minutes every two months.
Also, buy organic fair-trade locally-grown things. Now, I don't think we can buy our way to sustainability; that thinking kinda goes against the whole idea. But it can't hurt!
Okay, now second, the why. Why save the environment? I'll tell you why: because we live in a goddamn fantastic world! And what's so great about it?
Tuesday night, I turned on my laptop to find: "Non-system disk or disk error. Replace and press any key to continue." I reached for my floppy drive to pull out the floppy disk. Hup-- I have no floppy drive! My stomach lurched. I think a couple other organs lurched too. My hard drive was toasted! And of course, I hadn't backed up since like June, on my parents' external HD. My project! My music library! My dreams! My list of movies to see! My recipes! My, uh, digital album notes from the Arcade Fire's "Neon Bible"!
Wednesday morning, I brought it into the help center to make sure it was the hard drive that was gone. Nope, it booted up fine.
Now, in a just world, there is no way I get to save my hard drive. It's gone. And someone has told misc.market and all the techies are laughing at me. But I actually got the second chance! The one you don't ever get! And now my computer is on, and all my data is backed up on my new external HD!
So THAT is what is so great about the world, and THAT is why you should save the environment, because no environment = ozone layer hole and massive tsunamis = us departing this world for whatever afterlife, and I would not want to leave a world that is benevolent enough to give you that second chance.
I think you should save the environment. There are two questions: how?, and why?
First, how? I don't know if it's possible to achieve a sustainable way of living without giving up major parts of the lifestyle that you and I have grown accustomed to. However, I'd like to give it a try. There are often easy ways to do this, and you can do it to, if you just think about it a little bit and go an even littler bit out of your way.
The answer is not "sell your car and hug a tree." It's not about going backward to the good ol' days before we had disposable plastic bottles and paper towels. It's about going forward and using our prodigious smarts to set up better systems.
For example: Note where you can recycle paper (example: the CMU recycling room!). Then, next to your trash can, keep a box. If you're going to throw paper away, put it in the box instead. When the box gets full (every couple months in my house) toss it in a big backpack and bring it to campus the next time you go. Ta-da! You no longer waste paper. Total elapsed time: maybe 10 minutes every two months.
Also, buy organic fair-trade locally-grown things. Now, I don't think we can buy our way to sustainability; that thinking kinda goes against the whole idea. But it can't hurt!
Okay, now second, the why. Why save the environment? I'll tell you why: because we live in a goddamn fantastic world! And what's so great about it?
Tuesday night, I turned on my laptop to find: "Non-system disk or disk error. Replace and press any key to continue." I reached for my floppy drive to pull out the floppy disk. Hup-- I have no floppy drive! My stomach lurched. I think a couple other organs lurched too. My hard drive was toasted! And of course, I hadn't backed up since like June, on my parents' external HD. My project! My music library! My dreams! My list of movies to see! My recipes! My, uh, digital album notes from the Arcade Fire's "Neon Bible"!
Wednesday morning, I brought it into the help center to make sure it was the hard drive that was gone. Nope, it booted up fine.
Now, in a just world, there is no way I get to save my hard drive. It's gone. And someone has told misc.market and all the techies are laughing at me. But I actually got the second chance! The one you don't ever get! And now my computer is on, and all my data is backed up on my new external HD!
So THAT is what is so great about the world, and THAT is why you should save the environment, because no environment = ozone layer hole and massive tsunamis = us departing this world for whatever afterlife, and I would not want to leave a world that is benevolent enough to give you that second chance.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Hello The Facebook.
I had mixed feelings about blogs on The Facebook. But what the hell? If it works for Jacques Strappe, it's good enough for me. And I can always take it off.
Speaking of The Facebook, I had an interview with them. Neat, right? I mean, it's absurd. How does an employee of The Facebook take himself/herself seriously?* Nevertheless, they work with some of the coolest brand-newest technology. The stuff that Google's doing with massive parallel computation; Google's doing that, The Facebook is doing that, and who else? Geek out moment, but I feel like if anyone's going to compete with Google in any sphere, it's The Facebook. And they're pretty successful so far.
*Hello The Facebook recruiters! I keep putting self-conscious notes like this, but in this case it's completely appropriate, because now my blog is on The Facebook. If The Facebook does any kind of background checking at all, maybe they'll look on THEIR OWN SITE first. Note to The Facebook recruiters: I don't mean "how does a facebook employee take himself/herself seriously?" in a bad way. It just seems silly, but actually isn't. It's like selling fluorescent colors for a living.
Also, I have great taste in music. At least, I like to think so. And I'd like to work for a company that thinks that is a good thing. I've got the new Go! Team on my ipod now and it's making me happy. Speaking of happy: The Fiery Furnaces, They Might Be Giants, Tally Hall, and Broken Social Scene are all coming to Pittsburgh.
In other news, gooo indians! They're up 2-1 over Boston- awesome. And I'm going home on Thursday to go to the game! It's like my childhood all over again... but a decade later!
Oh yeah! And Sunday/Monday I'll be in LA! What the geek, yo?! Next Thursday/Friday/Saturday is Seattle! I still like airports!
Speaking of The Facebook, I had an interview with them. Neat, right? I mean, it's absurd. How does an employee of The Facebook take himself/herself seriously?* Nevertheless, they work with some of the coolest brand-newest technology. The stuff that Google's doing with massive parallel computation; Google's doing that, The Facebook is doing that, and who else? Geek out moment, but I feel like if anyone's going to compete with Google in any sphere, it's The Facebook. And they're pretty successful so far.
*Hello The Facebook recruiters! I keep putting self-conscious notes like this, but in this case it's completely appropriate, because now my blog is on The Facebook. If The Facebook does any kind of background checking at all, maybe they'll look on THEIR OWN SITE first. Note to The Facebook recruiters: I don't mean "how does a facebook employee take himself/herself seriously?" in a bad way. It just seems silly, but actually isn't. It's like selling fluorescent colors for a living.
Also, I have great taste in music. At least, I like to think so. And I'd like to work for a company that thinks that is a good thing. I've got the new Go! Team on my ipod now and it's making me happy. Speaking of happy: The Fiery Furnaces, They Might Be Giants, Tally Hall, and Broken Social Scene are all coming to Pittsburgh.
In other news, gooo indians! They're up 2-1 over Boston- awesome. And I'm going home on Thursday to go to the game! It's like my childhood all over again... but a decade later!
Oh yeah! And Sunday/Monday I'll be in LA! What the geek, yo?! Next Thursday/Friday/Saturday is Seattle! I still like airports!
Sunday, October 14, 2007
A note to those who drink alcohol but do not buy it
First, I'd like to say that the party on Saturday night was a great success (if I do say so myself...). Thanks so much to everyone who came to make it so much fun. The rest of this note is of a rather unsavory financial nature, and I don't want the matters of filthy lucre to despoil the memory of such a joyous occasion. (indeed, one could view such a weekly party as our youthful worship service (now hear me out dammit) in that we set aside a time from our work and nonsense lives to lose ourselves among friends (perhaps with alcoholic assistance) and suck every minute out of a night that we can. granted, this metaphor is a stretch. but this is a note for another time!) I don't regret the money I spent on the party a bit.
Second, here's the main point of this note: parties are expensive. To those of you who donated to the donation jar yesterday, thank you! I still lost a boatload of money on the party, though. Again, no regrets, but I can't keep doing this, and the other people who buy you alcohol can't either. I don't think anyone's trying to rip me off or anything; I think people just don't know how much stuff costs. So I'll throw out prices that a couple reasonable drinks cost the buyer:
Cheap beer (Pabst class): $15 for a case of 30 cans = 50c each.
Normal beer (like a Yuengling): $20 for a case of 24 bottles = ~$1 each.
Nice beer (Sam Adams, Blue Moon, etc.): tend to cost $9-12 for a 6-pack, so ~$1.50-$2 each.
Smirnoff vodka: $24 for a handle (1.75 liters). 1.75 liters ~ 1.75 quarts = 56oz. Now, if you pour some in a cup and add a mixer, you might pour about 2 oz. So you get 28 drinks' worth out of a handle. So each 2 oz. drink costs you about $1.
Vladimir vodka: about half that, or 50c.
Bacardi rum: comparable to Smirnoff vodka.
Tanqueray gin: $20 for a fifth (0.75 liters). So that's about 24 oz., so a 2-oz. drink might cost $1.50-$2.
Kahlua: between Smirnoff and Tanqueray, I think. $1-$1.50.
Mixers tend to be cheaper... 8 oz. cranberry juice, milk, orange juice, tonic, or cola will cost 50c or less.
It adds up, though. Say you're making a White Russian. A shot of vodka, a shot of Kahlua, and fill it up with milk, and it'll be worth $2-2.50. Your vodka and cranberry could be $1.50, gin and tonic $2, etc. Multiply times a few drinks... toss in a little for cups and ice and snacks and stuff, and that's a big hit on the liquor purchaser/party host.
So what am I saying? Give a good donation at your next party. Tossing in a dollar or two and figuring "well, I'm only drinking a little" isn't going to cut it. I'd say $5 will cover you if you have a tolerance like me; maybe more if you're slightly more stout of constitution, and maybe a little less if you're drinking light or only quaffing a few PBR's. And don't forget! We old folks aren't trying to make money here, we're just trying to break even, but we routinely fall way short.
Wait, I see a hand in the back: "You don't have to buy such nice alcohol!" Would you like me to buy cheap stuff? If that's what people want, I'll gladly do that. I won't scoff at you- I've been known to enjoy the ol' Pabst myself. Another hand: "Quit whining! If you don't want to spend money, don't host parties!" Fair. I could do that too. But then it's less fun for everyone... I don't want to lose our chances to hang out just because of the price of boooooooooooze.
Thanks for listening; I will not speak of this again. But if I host a party and charge money or something, no whining allowed! And when you go to other people's parties, know how much you drink monetarily, and make sure to donate that much.
Second, here's the main point of this note: parties are expensive. To those of you who donated to the donation jar yesterday, thank you! I still lost a boatload of money on the party, though. Again, no regrets, but I can't keep doing this, and the other people who buy you alcohol can't either. I don't think anyone's trying to rip me off or anything; I think people just don't know how much stuff costs. So I'll throw out prices that a couple reasonable drinks cost the buyer:
Cheap beer (Pabst class): $15 for a case of 30 cans = 50c each.
Normal beer (like a Yuengling): $20 for a case of 24 bottles = ~$1 each.
Nice beer (Sam Adams, Blue Moon, etc.): tend to cost $9-12 for a 6-pack, so ~$1.50-$2 each.
Smirnoff vodka: $24 for a handle (1.75 liters). 1.75 liters ~ 1.75 quarts = 56oz. Now, if you pour some in a cup and add a mixer, you might pour about 2 oz. So you get 28 drinks' worth out of a handle. So each 2 oz. drink costs you about $1.
Vladimir vodka: about half that, or 50c.
Bacardi rum: comparable to Smirnoff vodka.
Tanqueray gin: $20 for a fifth (0.75 liters). So that's about 24 oz., so a 2-oz. drink might cost $1.50-$2.
Kahlua: between Smirnoff and Tanqueray, I think. $1-$1.50.
Mixers tend to be cheaper... 8 oz. cranberry juice, milk, orange juice, tonic, or cola will cost 50c or less.
It adds up, though. Say you're making a White Russian. A shot of vodka, a shot of Kahlua, and fill it up with milk, and it'll be worth $2-2.50. Your vodka and cranberry could be $1.50, gin and tonic $2, etc. Multiply times a few drinks... toss in a little for cups and ice and snacks and stuff, and that's a big hit on the liquor purchaser/party host.
So what am I saying? Give a good donation at your next party. Tossing in a dollar or two and figuring "well, I'm only drinking a little" isn't going to cut it. I'd say $5 will cover you if you have a tolerance like me; maybe more if you're slightly more stout of constitution, and maybe a little less if you're drinking light or only quaffing a few PBR's. And don't forget! We old folks aren't trying to make money here, we're just trying to break even, but we routinely fall way short.
Wait, I see a hand in the back: "You don't have to buy such nice alcohol!" Would you like me to buy cheap stuff? If that's what people want, I'll gladly do that. I won't scoff at you- I've been known to enjoy the ol' Pabst myself. Another hand: "Quit whining! If you don't want to spend money, don't host parties!" Fair. I could do that too. But then it's less fun for everyone... I don't want to lose our chances to hang out just because of the price of boooooooooooze.
Thanks for listening; I will not speak of this again. But if I host a party and charge money or something, no whining allowed! And when you go to other people's parties, know how much you drink monetarily, and make sure to donate that much.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Some things that make me excited:
Last Monday: that Of Montreal/Grand Buffet show. A few notes:
Grand Buffet creates the most enjoyable concerts I've ever seen.
Of Montreal creates some of the most enjoyable music I've ever heard. (how about that qualifier there? I think they're maybe #4 on my favorite-bands list.)
Oberlin is neat, and not actually any less nerdy than CMU. I think. It is out in the middle of nowhere, though.
Getting out of town to clear your head a bit is nice.
And "Song Association" may be my new favorite car game. It works like this: someone sings a song. If that reminds you of a song, you start singing and they stop. Repeat.
Yesterday: while sleep deprivation makes you sad, it evidently magnifies the effects of caffeine. Whoa. I was on a cloud at about 9:30 PM.
Tomorrow: teaching a Concepts recitation about counting. Combinatorics. It's the most fun math.
Starting this weekend: the Indians vs. the Red Sox in the ALCS. Woo!
Friday: Improv show with free cereal! I'm so stoked about the cereal. 8PM, UC Danforth, be there.
Saturday: Glow in the dark party. See you there (and by "there" I mean "my house"). Yeah!
Grand Buffet creates the most enjoyable concerts I've ever seen.
Of Montreal creates some of the most enjoyable music I've ever heard. (how about that qualifier there? I think they're maybe #4 on my favorite-bands list.)
Oberlin is neat, and not actually any less nerdy than CMU. I think. It is out in the middle of nowhere, though.
Getting out of town to clear your head a bit is nice.
And "Song Association" may be my new favorite car game. It works like this: someone sings a song. If that reminds you of a song, you start singing and they stop. Repeat.
Yesterday: while sleep deprivation makes you sad, it evidently magnifies the effects of caffeine. Whoa. I was on a cloud at about 9:30 PM.
Tomorrow: teaching a Concepts recitation about counting. Combinatorics. It's the most fun math.
Starting this weekend: the Indians vs. the Red Sox in the ALCS. Woo!
Friday: Improv show with free cereal! I'm so stoked about the cereal. 8PM, UC Danforth, be there.
Saturday: Glow in the dark party. See you there (and by "there" I mean "my house"). Yeah!
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Another reason to root for the tribe:
Great taste in music.
I point you to Travis Hafner ("Du Hast") as a shining example. Between the whole team, they also managed to hit Static-X, Mims, Metallica, Audioslave, John Mellencamp, Collective Soul, and Staind.
I propose a rock-off: Indians Mix vs. Pirates Mix. (Disturbed!) Or maybe vs. Dungeon Mix.
I point you to Travis Hafner ("Du Hast") as a shining example. Between the whole team, they also managed to hit Static-X, Mims, Metallica, Audioslave, John Mellencamp, Collective Soul, and Staind.
I propose a rock-off: Indians Mix vs. Pirates Mix. (Disturbed!) Or maybe vs. Dungeon Mix.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Go Tribe!
You may be familiar with the Major League of Baseball. Also, it's October, which makes all of us former baseball fans think about postseasons, World Series glory, and early dark nights with huge stadiums packed with fans and lights. Where it's nighttime but it's still so bright because you're focused on this turbo-lit field.
Anyway, the Cleveland Indians are back in it! They actually are tied for the best record in baseball. They have two power starters (C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona), which is crucial in the short best-of-5 and best-of-7 series. They have a pretty solid bullpen too (except the closer, Joe Borowski, maybe), and a decent lineup. The point is, this year they have a chance to actually do something cool. Through the 90's, they came so close to winning a world series, but never really did, and then sucked for the first half of the 2000's. They haven't won the Series since 1948.
Hell, Cleveland has not won any MLB, NFL, or NBA championships since 1948. That is so long. Red Sox, quit your whining. And don't even get me started on the Yankees. What I'm saying is, if you're looking for a team to root for, root for the Indians!
Also, this.
Anyway, the Cleveland Indians are back in it! They actually are tied for the best record in baseball. They have two power starters (C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona), which is crucial in the short best-of-5 and best-of-7 series. They have a pretty solid bullpen too (except the closer, Joe Borowski, maybe), and a decent lineup. The point is, this year they have a chance to actually do something cool. Through the 90's, they came so close to winning a world series, but never really did, and then sucked for the first half of the 2000's. They haven't won the Series since 1948.
Hell, Cleveland has not won any MLB, NFL, or NBA championships since 1948. That is so long. Red Sox, quit your whining. And don't even get me started on the Yankees. What I'm saying is, if you're looking for a team to root for, root for the Indians!
Also, this.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
I want to post, but I have so little to say
I want to shout my little yawp from the rooftops, but yeah, there's not a lot to say.
I did see my parents this weekend, which was nice. Good to catch up. They were very excited about my interviews. I am too. It will be nice once I have these interviews and I can nail down whether I have a job offer from them or not.
Also, we had an excellent improv show. If we can get more than 8 people to show up in the audience, that would be really nice.
I was thinking about pro sports, and how they're really pretty silly, right? Two arbitrary teams compete in this arbitrary competition, and you cheer for the one that happens to come from the city you live in. But given that they're silly, they're kind of perfect, because they provide some filler to life. Ooh, I just thought of a good analogy!
People are like colored flashlights, all right? You want to mix colors together and make new brighter colors and so on. But it's like people are flashlights outside with nothing around. If you have no substance, you can't reflect off of anything. Pro sports, for example, provide some dust in the air. If you and another person are hanging out, and just shining your lights out there, nothing happens. But if the air is all dusty, you can kind of see the beam that you each shoot, (like lightsabers!) and then you can interact. Similarly, if you have something to talk about, some experience that you share, then that gives meaning to your interaction, even if the experience itself (watching a football game) is meaningless. The worth of an interaction is measured not only through the strength of the lights but also by the amount of dust in the air.
Fair metaphor? Even if it means I equated people with flashlights, which sounds like goddamn Successories nonsense?
I did see my parents this weekend, which was nice. Good to catch up. They were very excited about my interviews. I am too. It will be nice once I have these interviews and I can nail down whether I have a job offer from them or not.
Also, we had an excellent improv show. If we can get more than 8 people to show up in the audience, that would be really nice.
I was thinking about pro sports, and how they're really pretty silly, right? Two arbitrary teams compete in this arbitrary competition, and you cheer for the one that happens to come from the city you live in. But given that they're silly, they're kind of perfect, because they provide some filler to life. Ooh, I just thought of a good analogy!
People are like colored flashlights, all right? You want to mix colors together and make new brighter colors and so on. But it's like people are flashlights outside with nothing around. If you have no substance, you can't reflect off of anything. Pro sports, for example, provide some dust in the air. If you and another person are hanging out, and just shining your lights out there, nothing happens. But if the air is all dusty, you can kind of see the beam that you each shoot, (like lightsabers!) and then you can interact. Similarly, if you have something to talk about, some experience that you share, then that gives meaning to your interaction, even if the experience itself (watching a football game) is meaningless. The worth of an interaction is measured not only through the strength of the lights but also by the amount of dust in the air.
Fair metaphor? Even if it means I equated people with flashlights, which sounds like goddamn Successories nonsense?
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Point/counterpoint: XKCD
Point:
Counterpoint: It's terribly drawn. Maybe it'd be funny as a joke blog or something. It's like a movie that just shows a test pattern while talking over it.
Point:
Counterpoint: It's just nerd humor. Anyone can (and at this goddamn school, anyone has) just take a stupid joke and make a "comic" out of it. It's unoriginal and lame.
Point:
Counterpoint: Really, I'm just jealous. Because I'll make a joke, and then I'll go reading through the archives, and I'll think: Shit! They beat me to it!
Counterpoint: It's terribly drawn. Maybe it'd be funny as a joke blog or something. It's like a movie that just shows a test pattern while talking over it.
Point:
Counterpoint: It's just nerd humor. Anyone can (and at this goddamn school, anyone has) just take a stupid joke and make a "comic" out of it. It's unoriginal and lame.
Point:
Counterpoint: Really, I'm just jealous. Because I'll make a joke, and then I'll go reading through the archives, and I'll think: Shit! They beat me to it!
Monday, September 24, 2007
Oldies but goodies
A few songs today that have sent shivers down my spine or made me dance or sing or otherwise wax ecstatic:
Once in a Lifetime, by the Talking Heads
Almost Crimes, by Broken Social Scene
Common People, by William Shatner, covering Pulp
Solta o Frango, by Bonde Do Role
Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above, by CSS
Once in a Lifetime, by the Talking Heads
Almost Crimes, by Broken Social Scene
Common People, by William Shatner, covering Pulp
Solta o Frango, by Bonde Do Role
Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above, by CSS
Friday, September 21, 2007
Amen to this!
I mean, this.
-Dan
connecting (maybe) with all you readers right now, through technology
or at least introducing another subject to make for better conversation with you readers next time I do talk to you in real life.
PS. I got a new IPOD NANO, used, for $40! Bargains make me glad! The return of music in my ears makes me more glad!
PPS. more excitingly, I got an interview with Google! In Seattle, too! Yeah!
PPPS. hi Google recruiters; check it out, I'm excited about your company!
-Dan
connecting (maybe) with all you readers right now, through technology
or at least introducing another subject to make for better conversation with you readers next time I do talk to you in real life.
PS. I got a new IPOD NANO, used, for $40! Bargains make me glad! The return of music in my ears makes me more glad!
PPS. more excitingly, I got an interview with Google! In Seattle, too! Yeah!
PPPS. hi Google recruiters; check it out, I'm excited about your company!
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Two more things I like a lot:
1. Andrew Bird's song "Simple Exercises." Catchy and epic at the same time!
2. Copper. It's so well drawn! And that sort of cute-and-deep (but not too cute) combo that I love (see: The Little Prince). This one is ... apropos.
2. Copper. It's so well drawn! And that sort of cute-and-deep (but not too cute) combo that I love (see: The Little Prince). This one is ... apropos.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Two thoughts about tomorrow's TOC:
1. I'm really disappointed that there kind of isn't a place for me at SilverTree Media.
2. Sorry, Redback Networks.
You're off my list. Note that I wrote that post in summer 2005.
2. Sorry, Redback Networks.
You're off my list. Note that I wrote that post in summer 2005.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
How can anyone expect me to sleep
when I can turn on the version of "Scenic World" that's on Beirut's "Lon Gisland" EP (the original is pretty good too) and it's autumn, and it's getting that delicious chilliness in the air, and life is so goddamn good and there's nostalgia because it's fall and there's future nostalgia when you know you'll look back on these halcyon days that you're experiencing right now and there's so much being AWAKE to be done!
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Me and my old Schwinn WorldSport
The poor thing. I treat it like crap sometimes. But then it goes and does this to me... the little bastard.
We've got a slightly dysfunctional relationship. It's like a horse that I never feed, yet still expect to keep working. It's down to four gears (it has 10, but I don't know from derailleurs, so I haven't been able to fix the other 6), of which one slips. They're all a little rusty. The wheels are not bad, although the back one has a little bump that rubs against the brakes sometimes. The brakes are pretty good. There's a light on the front that works, and a blinky on the back that has no batteries (which reminds me, I should fix that!); a lock that attaches to the frame but rattles around, and pedals that work fine but are sharp! I can't ride it without shoes. The seat causes super numbness if I ride it for any distance, and the seat post and handlebars are a couple inches too short for me.
There are stickers: Free Ride, Tally Hall, WRCT, "Commute to Work", and a crappy Grand Buffet that looks like hell. It's got character.
Sometimes I feed it new parts. It's always a pain, though, because there are two options:
1. Free Ride, which is awesome in theory, but always a negative experience in practice. They have a lot of tools, but not necessarily good parts. (what do you expect for free?) And they're open at odd hours (Tuesday/Thursday like 6-10, Saturday 1-5), meaning that whenever I go, I've got to get stuff done quick! And I have to be able to ride the bike home, so I better not mess anything up. Plus it's dark and grimy, but that sometimes makes me feel good, like "Look at me, I can do manual labor too!" (the punchline: I can't. I'm so useless.)
2. Biketek or Pittsburgh Pro, which are good bike shops in theory, but when you leave, your wallet will be many dollars lighter, and your self-esteem will be many notches lower. Welcome to the Bike Shop. Our special is a heaping plate of condescension with a side of bike parts. Can I take your order and scoff at you?
They are a lot closer, though, and open at somewhat-reasonable hours. (Only somewhat, though.) So the other day, I went in there asking for a tire (my old tire was rotting and awful), tube (I got a spare tire from Matt Joachim, but it was a slightly different size), or maybe wheel (to fix the aforementioned bump, while I'm at it). After a few brusque questions, the guy established that I don't even know what size wheels I have. (surprise! 700 mm != 27 inches. Also, they don't even make 27 inch wheels anymore. Oh bike, you are so old.) Then he sold me a $15 tire, and tried to sell me a $45 wheel. My entire bike cost less than that!
Whatever. I made it happen. Got the tire. Put it on. Also added a little screw that was never there before, that according to the Free Ride folks (a while ago) would fix my derailleur woes.
So I'm heading to campus, listening to my ipod (which I wasn't sure if I wanted to bring, but decided to at the last minute), and I switch gears, and I have a couple seconds of blinding terror where NOTHING IS WORKING and I'm not sure why and before I know it I'm skidding along the ground, and I have the presence of mind to get up and get out of the road before it hits me that I just fell down, and I hope I am not bleeding too much (luckily I'm not) and the adrenaline jolt and LCD Soundsystem's "Get Innocuous!" are jazzing me up enough that I yell out a prodigious "FUCK!" and start cursing at my bike. Turns out my chain fell off and got stuck between the gears and the frame, causing my back wheel to stop turning.
Look, bike, I just tried to fix you! I gave you an entire new tire! Whatever. I have no big wounds, so I keep rolling down to campus.
It's only when I get to improv and go to turn off my ipod that I realize it is all broken! The screen ist kaput! The buttons aren't the most functional! The "lock" switch doesn't work! Well, it still plays music, although the last couple days where its battery has lasted about 40 minutes have given me reason to doubt that too. My phone's screen is a little messed up, but not in any way that affects its function. (although it seemingly has started answering itself if I don't answer it. if you call me and hear My Pocket: Greatest Hits instead of voice mail, I apologize!)
Hey, bike, come on! If you don't like me, give me another one of those injuries where my foot slips off the pedal and hits me in the heel and it bleeds a little bit but leaves a cool scar. But don't take it out on the ipod! You two are a team! Between the two of you, I can get anywhere, and really enjoy it!
Sigh. Two things have come out of this, though:
1. I'm probably in the market for a new mp3 player, so I'm open to suggestions. I've had great experiences with the ipod nano, and terrible experiences with a Samsung YP-U2J. I'm not all so sure I want to deal with the Apple monopoly, though. I do want flash memory, a backlit screen that's not dumb, the ability to play an album straight through or shuffle, and no nonsense with connecting/downloading/etc. Capacity is not a big deal- 1gb is fine. The cheaper the better. This is a good thing, because it lets me buy new technology, which is always fun. Plus, it doesn't even cancel out the raise I got for TAing, so in terms of overall luck, I'm still ahead!
2. Cause and effect: check this out.
If I hadn't tried to replace the tire AND gotten this screw and "tip" from Free Ride, I wouldn't have adjusted the derailleur and therefore wouldn't have fallen.
AND
If I hadn't decided to take my ipod at the last minute, I wouldn't have broken it.
AND
If I hadn't been going to break dancing that night, I wouldn't have worn gym shorts, and maybe better pockets would have saved the ipod.
AND
If I had bought the new wheel, I would have bent it too, which would have sucked.
Okay, whatever. But here's a cool cause-and-effect chain: yesterday I was coming back to campus, and I had this impending feeling of doom that this car would hit me. (it didn't, don't worry.) But I was wearing my helmet, because Sarah convinced me that I should after I told her about my wreck on Thursday, and it only came up because we were talking about music and I mentioned that my ipod was all broken. So, if the car HAD hit me:
Going to break dancing -> wearing gym shorts
Replacing tire + screw from Free Ride + wearing gym shorts + grabbing ipod at the last minute -> fall + broken ipod.
broken ipod -> conversation about bike crash + I decide to wear my helmet
wearing helmet -> not dying when car hit me
So in a way, my life would have been saved because I tried to replace my tire, I got this screw from Free Ride, I was going to break dancing class, and at the last minute I decided to take my ipod.
The life you save, quite unintentionally, may be your own!
We've got a slightly dysfunctional relationship. It's like a horse that I never feed, yet still expect to keep working. It's down to four gears (it has 10, but I don't know from derailleurs, so I haven't been able to fix the other 6), of which one slips. They're all a little rusty. The wheels are not bad, although the back one has a little bump that rubs against the brakes sometimes. The brakes are pretty good. There's a light on the front that works, and a blinky on the back that has no batteries (which reminds me, I should fix that!); a lock that attaches to the frame but rattles around, and pedals that work fine but are sharp! I can't ride it without shoes. The seat causes super numbness if I ride it for any distance, and the seat post and handlebars are a couple inches too short for me.
There are stickers: Free Ride, Tally Hall, WRCT, "Commute to Work", and a crappy Grand Buffet that looks like hell. It's got character.
Sometimes I feed it new parts. It's always a pain, though, because there are two options:
1. Free Ride, which is awesome in theory, but always a negative experience in practice. They have a lot of tools, but not necessarily good parts. (what do you expect for free?) And they're open at odd hours (Tuesday/Thursday like 6-10, Saturday 1-5), meaning that whenever I go, I've got to get stuff done quick! And I have to be able to ride the bike home, so I better not mess anything up. Plus it's dark and grimy, but that sometimes makes me feel good, like "Look at me, I can do manual labor too!" (the punchline: I can't. I'm so useless.)
2. Biketek or Pittsburgh Pro, which are good bike shops in theory, but when you leave, your wallet will be many dollars lighter, and your self-esteem will be many notches lower. Welcome to the Bike Shop. Our special is a heaping plate of condescension with a side of bike parts. Can I take your order and scoff at you?
They are a lot closer, though, and open at somewhat-reasonable hours. (Only somewhat, though.) So the other day, I went in there asking for a tire (my old tire was rotting and awful), tube (I got a spare tire from Matt Joachim, but it was a slightly different size), or maybe wheel (to fix the aforementioned bump, while I'm at it). After a few brusque questions, the guy established that I don't even know what size wheels I have. (surprise! 700 mm != 27 inches. Also, they don't even make 27 inch wheels anymore. Oh bike, you are so old.) Then he sold me a $15 tire, and tried to sell me a $45 wheel. My entire bike cost less than that!
Whatever. I made it happen. Got the tire. Put it on. Also added a little screw that was never there before, that according to the Free Ride folks (a while ago) would fix my derailleur woes.
So I'm heading to campus, listening to my ipod (which I wasn't sure if I wanted to bring, but decided to at the last minute), and I switch gears, and I have a couple seconds of blinding terror where NOTHING IS WORKING and I'm not sure why and before I know it I'm skidding along the ground, and I have the presence of mind to get up and get out of the road before it hits me that I just fell down, and I hope I am not bleeding too much (luckily I'm not) and the adrenaline jolt and LCD Soundsystem's "Get Innocuous!" are jazzing me up enough that I yell out a prodigious "FUCK!" and start cursing at my bike. Turns out my chain fell off and got stuck between the gears and the frame, causing my back wheel to stop turning.
Look, bike, I just tried to fix you! I gave you an entire new tire! Whatever. I have no big wounds, so I keep rolling down to campus.
It's only when I get to improv and go to turn off my ipod that I realize it is all broken! The screen ist kaput! The buttons aren't the most functional! The "lock" switch doesn't work! Well, it still plays music, although the last couple days where its battery has lasted about 40 minutes have given me reason to doubt that too. My phone's screen is a little messed up, but not in any way that affects its function. (although it seemingly has started answering itself if I don't answer it. if you call me and hear My Pocket: Greatest Hits instead of voice mail, I apologize!)
Hey, bike, come on! If you don't like me, give me another one of those injuries where my foot slips off the pedal and hits me in the heel and it bleeds a little bit but leaves a cool scar. But don't take it out on the ipod! You two are a team! Between the two of you, I can get anywhere, and really enjoy it!
Sigh. Two things have come out of this, though:
1. I'm probably in the market for a new mp3 player, so I'm open to suggestions. I've had great experiences with the ipod nano, and terrible experiences with a Samsung YP-U2J. I'm not all so sure I want to deal with the Apple monopoly, though. I do want flash memory, a backlit screen that's not dumb, the ability to play an album straight through or shuffle, and no nonsense with connecting/downloading/etc. Capacity is not a big deal- 1gb is fine. The cheaper the better. This is a good thing, because it lets me buy new technology, which is always fun. Plus, it doesn't even cancel out the raise I got for TAing, so in terms of overall luck, I'm still ahead!
2. Cause and effect: check this out.
If I hadn't tried to replace the tire AND gotten this screw and "tip" from Free Ride, I wouldn't have adjusted the derailleur and therefore wouldn't have fallen.
AND
If I hadn't decided to take my ipod at the last minute, I wouldn't have broken it.
AND
If I hadn't been going to break dancing that night, I wouldn't have worn gym shorts, and maybe better pockets would have saved the ipod.
AND
If I had bought the new wheel, I would have bent it too, which would have sucked.
Okay, whatever. But here's a cool cause-and-effect chain: yesterday I was coming back to campus, and I had this impending feeling of doom that this car would hit me. (it didn't, don't worry.) But I was wearing my helmet, because Sarah convinced me that I should after I told her about my wreck on Thursday, and it only came up because we were talking about music and I mentioned that my ipod was all broken. So, if the car HAD hit me:
Going to break dancing -> wearing gym shorts
Replacing tire + screw from Free Ride + wearing gym shorts + grabbing ipod at the last minute -> fall + broken ipod.
broken ipod -> conversation about bike crash + I decide to wear my helmet
wearing helmet -> not dying when car hit me
So in a way, my life would have been saved because I tried to replace my tire, I got this screw from Free Ride, I was going to break dancing class, and at the last minute I decided to take my ipod.
The life you save, quite unintentionally, may be your own!
Friday, September 14, 2007
A few slangs and catch phrases you should know when talking/emailing to me
Hi! I'm glad to hear from you. However, to avoid possible misunderstandings, I'm just going to throw a few terms out there. Hate to impose extra cognitive load on you, but I'm sure we all use certain slangs and we may or may not know what each other's slangs mean. Plus, this way, you can be in on my inside joke, and what is friendship, really, besides a series of inside jokes?
Also, this serves the purpose of properly citing the sources of all my slang, so that the right people can get credit. Or blame. Your call.
So if I say, for example, "Is it The Best?" (or Worst, or Biggest, or Smallest, or whatever) that's an Alex Grubbism. It's meant mostly facetiously, as in when Will would say something was good and Grubb would respond with "But is it... The Best?" just to antagonize him. Hopefully you can catch when I'm capitalizing The Best in conversation.
On the topic of Alex Grubb, "Why would anyone do that?" is another rhetorical question. I probably agree that what you're doing has merit. It's a sort of sarcastic throwaway.
I picked up saying "great" from Will. It might sound sarcastic, but it actually means something is great. For example, seeing Live at the Pittsburgh Pirates game is great.
This is not to be confused with writing "GREAT" or "AWESOME" in capital letters, which I picked up from Ram. Same idea- it actually means something is very good. But it carries more of a connotation of very genuine excitement, whereas saying "great" a la Will is just acknowledging something great.
XOXO is another one I've stolen from Ram, although not actually used much. It's a signoff on an email, as in "XOXO Ram." Though I don't use it much, I do appreciate it. I think the reason I haven't stolen more slang from Ram is that it's all very genuine, and I think copying it would make it lose some of its sincerity.
Back to AWESOME, though. "AWESOME" is also a nice segue into Brian Gadomski slang that I have picked up. For those of you who don't know him, Brian is a friend from high school. He is also a juggler, which is how I got to know him, although that's not true, because I actually got to know him because he is the brother of Pete Gadomski, one of my best friends from high school. A long time ago, he made a short film, like a minute long, about a kid who's just wandering around. Then he meets a friend who says "what are you doing?" "eh, nothing." And then they jump into the air and the screen goes "AWESOME!" all 60's-like or something. The Go! Team is on in the background. It wasn't a great film. But I do mean "AWESOME!" in that sense sometimes.
Other Brian Gadomski slang I've adopted:
"Book" = "cool"
"Choin" = "cool" but you're a loser if you say "choin", so I try not to say it.
"Bru" = "bro" except it's so much cooler than saying "bro".
Oh, and "It could be worse." I've been big on this one recently. It's a two-person line, really. The idea is like this: someone complains about something ("Man, the weather's bad today"). Person A says "It could be worse." Person B thinks up an extreme outlandish way in which it sure could be worse. ("Yeah, it could be raining hot molasses!")
"Fresh" has been kept alive in my memory by Brian, but it really started with Erik, another one of my best friends from high school. It means what it meant back in 1992: good. I should point out that a lot of the slang I picked up from Erik (which is a lot!) came from Magic: the Gathering players. I think the only other one I use is "What a hopping" = "Man, that's rough."
And then there's the catch phrases I've picked up from Brian Gray, which might as well be a different language. A recent favorite is "Try this delicious soup, Samuel." "I'm orange!" I offer no explanation.
Err... and then there's the Adam Jaffe catch phrases, which are a different language, and varying degrees of offensive. If I say "er-ver-car-durrs" instead of "avocados", or talk about popping up in your car's backseat with your favorite Chingy CD, or claim that my name is "Wenis McGee", ... well, the only excuse I have is that these things happened in an improv scene.
Hey, the Technical Opportunities Conference is next week, which means recruitment is happening, which means employers might be facebooking me, and then might follow the link to my blog. Or they might just Google me. At any rate, hi recruiters! Not only can I bring my sweet COMPUTING SKILLS to your company, I can also bring to you a whole new generation of slang!
Also, this serves the purpose of properly citing the sources of all my slang, so that the right people can get credit. Or blame. Your call.
So if I say, for example, "Is it The Best?" (or Worst, or Biggest, or Smallest, or whatever) that's an Alex Grubbism. It's meant mostly facetiously, as in when Will would say something was good and Grubb would respond with "But is it... The Best?" just to antagonize him. Hopefully you can catch when I'm capitalizing The Best in conversation.
On the topic of Alex Grubb, "Why would anyone do that?" is another rhetorical question. I probably agree that what you're doing has merit. It's a sort of sarcastic throwaway.
I picked up saying "great" from Will. It might sound sarcastic, but it actually means something is great. For example, seeing Live at the Pittsburgh Pirates game is great.
This is not to be confused with writing "GREAT" or "AWESOME" in capital letters, which I picked up from Ram. Same idea- it actually means something is very good. But it carries more of a connotation of very genuine excitement, whereas saying "great" a la Will is just acknowledging something great.
XOXO is another one I've stolen from Ram, although not actually used much. It's a signoff on an email, as in "XOXO Ram." Though I don't use it much, I do appreciate it. I think the reason I haven't stolen more slang from Ram is that it's all very genuine, and I think copying it would make it lose some of its sincerity.
Back to AWESOME, though. "AWESOME" is also a nice segue into Brian Gadomski slang that I have picked up. For those of you who don't know him, Brian is a friend from high school. He is also a juggler, which is how I got to know him, although that's not true, because I actually got to know him because he is the brother of Pete Gadomski, one of my best friends from high school. A long time ago, he made a short film, like a minute long, about a kid who's just wandering around. Then he meets a friend who says "what are you doing?" "eh, nothing." And then they jump into the air and the screen goes "AWESOME!" all 60's-like or something. The Go! Team is on in the background. It wasn't a great film. But I do mean "AWESOME!" in that sense sometimes.
Other Brian Gadomski slang I've adopted:
"Book" = "cool"
"Choin" = "cool" but you're a loser if you say "choin", so I try not to say it.
"Bru" = "bro" except it's so much cooler than saying "bro".
Oh, and "It could be worse." I've been big on this one recently. It's a two-person line, really. The idea is like this: someone complains about something ("Man, the weather's bad today"). Person A says "It could be worse." Person B thinks up an extreme outlandish way in which it sure could be worse. ("Yeah, it could be raining hot molasses!")
"Fresh" has been kept alive in my memory by Brian, but it really started with Erik, another one of my best friends from high school. It means what it meant back in 1992: good. I should point out that a lot of the slang I picked up from Erik (which is a lot!) came from Magic: the Gathering players. I think the only other one I use is "What a hopping" = "Man, that's rough."
And then there's the catch phrases I've picked up from Brian Gray, which might as well be a different language. A recent favorite is "Try this delicious soup, Samuel." "I'm orange!" I offer no explanation.
Err... and then there's the Adam Jaffe catch phrases, which are a different language, and varying degrees of offensive. If I say "er-ver-car-durrs" instead of "avocados", or talk about popping up in your car's backseat with your favorite Chingy CD, or claim that my name is "Wenis McGee", ... well, the only excuse I have is that these things happened in an improv scene.
Hey, the Technical Opportunities Conference is next week, which means recruitment is happening, which means employers might be facebooking me, and then might follow the link to my blog. Or they might just Google me. At any rate, hi recruiters! Not only can I bring my sweet COMPUTING SKILLS to your company, I can also bring to you a whole new generation of slang!
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
A proposal about the nature of life.
Here's a thought, and I have no other way to introduce it besides "here's a thought":
Life is just playing games. You play a game as long as it interests you, and then you transcend it and move on.
When you're a kid, remember how it was always a big deal who was the fastest runner in your class, or who could spell words the best, or whatever? And then you realized, that's dumb, nobody cares. Maybe you entered the science fair, or the football team. I know I personally entered the marching band, Academic Challenge (aka quiz bowl, or whatever you call it), and juggling club. I played those games, got okay at them, but eventually just moved on. I played the college admissions game and the grades game. But I don't care about those anymore. Grades, more or less, are for suckers. I sure don't care about being the best trombonist in marching band anymore.
Now I'm playing the job search and/or grad school game. I'm almost done with the College game. Some of the games I've played on the side: the cooking club game, the exercise game, the "not being a nerd" game. It's all kinda nonsense. Eventually I'll transcend this game too and move on.
Maybe some games do matter: the career game? Maybe the deal with the super-wise monks is that they've transcended those too-- they've transcended ALL the games!
But I'm not saying playing these games was bad. I enjoyed the marching band while I was in it. Hell, I enjoyed Magic: the Gathering back when. I don't wish I never did these things, but at the same time, I don't want to do it again. So while all this sounds like me ranting about how life doesn't matter, that's not what I mean at all.
Just trying to keep it in perspective: All I'm doing is playing games. Enjoying it, but playing games nonetheless.
Also, wow, A Softer World is the best Successories posters for twentysomething* hipsters. Sometimes it's hilarious. Sometimes it's creepy. Sometimes it's kinda awww. Sometimes it's a combination of a couple of those characteristics.
*something = one. Not that I'm insecure about my age. For example, I can't wait until something = forty-five.
Life is just playing games. You play a game as long as it interests you, and then you transcend it and move on.
When you're a kid, remember how it was always a big deal who was the fastest runner in your class, or who could spell words the best, or whatever? And then you realized, that's dumb, nobody cares. Maybe you entered the science fair, or the football team. I know I personally entered the marching band, Academic Challenge (aka quiz bowl, or whatever you call it), and juggling club. I played those games, got okay at them, but eventually just moved on. I played the college admissions game and the grades game. But I don't care about those anymore. Grades, more or less, are for suckers. I sure don't care about being the best trombonist in marching band anymore.
Now I'm playing the job search and/or grad school game. I'm almost done with the College game. Some of the games I've played on the side: the cooking club game, the exercise game, the "not being a nerd" game. It's all kinda nonsense. Eventually I'll transcend this game too and move on.
Maybe some games do matter: the career game? Maybe the deal with the super-wise monks is that they've transcended those too-- they've transcended ALL the games!
But I'm not saying playing these games was bad. I enjoyed the marching band while I was in it. Hell, I enjoyed Magic: the Gathering back when. I don't wish I never did these things, but at the same time, I don't want to do it again. So while all this sounds like me ranting about how life doesn't matter, that's not what I mean at all.
Just trying to keep it in perspective: All I'm doing is playing games. Enjoying it, but playing games nonetheless.
Also, wow, A Softer World is the best Successories posters for twentysomething* hipsters. Sometimes it's hilarious. Sometimes it's creepy. Sometimes it's kinda awww. Sometimes it's a combination of a couple of those characteristics.
*something = one. Not that I'm insecure about my age. For example, I can't wait until something = forty-five.
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