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cloud of dragonflies
Jul. 22nd, 2004 10:35 pmIt's hot in here. I escaped to the deck with my laptop. It's kind of dark and noisy, and I wish I had a wireless connection so I didn't have to drag cat5 out here, but at least it's cooler.
Those of you with long memories might recall my friend Lindsey, who braved post-9/11 security to fly out to Lynnwood to see me a couple years ago. I guess she misses me or something - go figure :D - so she's coming back out and will be staying here in Bellingham the first week of August. Of course this means I will be taking time off work and generally hanging about that week so if any of the rest of you miss me that would be a good time to catch up.
Of course, if left to our own devices I'm sure we can find something to keep us occupied, but there ain't much touristy in Bellingham. Maybe I should relax about it.
I did the second midterm in my algorithms class, and if I'm lucky and the teacher is hurried, I may pass. It's not the best position to be in, but it's better than the one I was in last time, and I can hopefully pull something out of my ass for the final - something resembling a passing grade. It would be helpful if, by the time we actually do said final, she told us what we should study, as we pretty much had no clue this time. As much as I hate actually taking this class, I think I would hate failing it even more.
Work was full of distractions today. Robert brought in his $300 Etymotics headphone setup for me to try out, it was HEAVENLY. It was like getting new glasses or seeing a band live for the first time. Suddenly I understand why people can spend so much money on speakers - they hear their music through headphones like those and say "I want that in my living room." A noble enough goal, mind you - having everything I own sound as good as it did on those headphones would be a generous blessing indeed. Anyway I was quite envious that he could listen to those things anytime he wanted, then I remembered that I kind of like being able to eat anytime I want too, and maybe I should spend my $300 elsewhere.
Our dual-2GHz Apple G5 arrived today as well, which was enough to drag us all in from playing frisbee so we could unpack this sexy beast. Several layers of cardboard and styrofoam later, there she was, a testament to great engineering and well-designed hardware, sitting in our very office. $2000 of pure sex. I was surprised at how it looked - exactly as smooth as in the pictures. The two giant "G5" things you see in the picture are heatsinks - they run the whole width of the case and about half the length. There's 4 fans to cool those two hot processors (and 5 more for the rest of the system), and I must say the layout works - it dumps tons of heat in a very quiet manner. Going from working inside that to the new gateways was like driving a 1999 BMW and then getting back into the 1972 chevrolet. We've got it driving two 17" flat panels and suddenly it's the most desirable workstation in the office.
Becky found me at work to drop off my green tea - thanks Becky! - which I must say caught Robert off-guard, but his girlfriend brings him lunch all the time so I don't know what he was so ruffled about.
That last sentence probably sounded a little different than I wanted it to.
Andy's throwing a LAN on saturday, I always seem to be sick when these come around. :( Hopefully I'll feel well enough to attend, it'd be nice to go to a LAN where I'm not doing all the work.
Jeremy's selling his EQ accounts, good for him. He's got plenty on his plate right now and has no time to be spending on games. I admire his bravery in scheduling tests he hasn't fully studied for - I can hardly do small tests I know about weeks in advance.
I'm getting my new car stereo amp installed tomorrow! 200W of yummy sound, hopefully it makes The Drive a little more tolerable next year. I think all told I'll end up with it installed for the same price the amp lists for, which is pretty good I think. Buying used has its advantages.
Rather than join Graham for scary movies I think I'll do some stretches and get some sleep. I've been staying up too late recently and the only way to break the cycle is to overcompensate.
Those of you with long memories might recall my friend Lindsey, who braved post-9/11 security to fly out to Lynnwood to see me a couple years ago. I guess she misses me or something - go figure :D - so she's coming back out and will be staying here in Bellingham the first week of August. Of course this means I will be taking time off work and generally hanging about that week so if any of the rest of you miss me that would be a good time to catch up.
Of course, if left to our own devices I'm sure we can find something to keep us occupied, but there ain't much touristy in Bellingham. Maybe I should relax about it.
I did the second midterm in my algorithms class, and if I'm lucky and the teacher is hurried, I may pass. It's not the best position to be in, but it's better than the one I was in last time, and I can hopefully pull something out of my ass for the final - something resembling a passing grade. It would be helpful if, by the time we actually do said final, she told us what we should study, as we pretty much had no clue this time. As much as I hate actually taking this class, I think I would hate failing it even more.
Work was full of distractions today. Robert brought in his $300 Etymotics headphone setup for me to try out, it was HEAVENLY. It was like getting new glasses or seeing a band live for the first time. Suddenly I understand why people can spend so much money on speakers - they hear their music through headphones like those and say "I want that in my living room." A noble enough goal, mind you - having everything I own sound as good as it did on those headphones would be a generous blessing indeed. Anyway I was quite envious that he could listen to those things anytime he wanted, then I remembered that I kind of like being able to eat anytime I want too, and maybe I should spend my $300 elsewhere.
Our dual-2GHz Apple G5 arrived today as well, which was enough to drag us all in from playing frisbee so we could unpack this sexy beast. Several layers of cardboard and styrofoam later, there she was, a testament to great engineering and well-designed hardware, sitting in our very office. $2000 of pure sex. I was surprised at how it looked - exactly as smooth as in the pictures. The two giant "G5" things you see in the picture are heatsinks - they run the whole width of the case and about half the length. There's 4 fans to cool those two hot processors (and 5 more for the rest of the system), and I must say the layout works - it dumps tons of heat in a very quiet manner. Going from working inside that to the new gateways was like driving a 1999 BMW and then getting back into the 1972 chevrolet. We've got it driving two 17" flat panels and suddenly it's the most desirable workstation in the office.
Becky found me at work to drop off my green tea - thanks Becky! - which I must say caught Robert off-guard, but his girlfriend brings him lunch all the time so I don't know what he was so ruffled about.
That last sentence probably sounded a little different than I wanted it to.
Andy's throwing a LAN on saturday, I always seem to be sick when these come around. :( Hopefully I'll feel well enough to attend, it'd be nice to go to a LAN where I'm not doing all the work.
Jeremy's selling his EQ accounts, good for him. He's got plenty on his plate right now and has no time to be spending on games. I admire his bravery in scheduling tests he hasn't fully studied for - I can hardly do small tests I know about weeks in advance.
I'm getting my new car stereo amp installed tomorrow! 200W of yummy sound, hopefully it makes The Drive a little more tolerable next year. I think all told I'll end up with it installed for the same price the amp lists for, which is pretty good I think. Buying used has its advantages.
Rather than join Graham for scary movies I think I'll do some stretches and get some sleep. I've been staying up too late recently and the only way to break the cycle is to overcompensate.
