The Column

Motto: I can count... allllll the way ... to schfifty five. To start this column off, I'm going to link to an old internet favorite. This video is every bit as stupid as "End of Ze World", and was watched an equally shameful number of times by me in my internet-going youth. It is relevant only to this column, so it basically had to be posted now. It is 95% safe for work. This is likely the last post I will have for the year. So, I will use it to bid adieu to 2012. I think 2012 was the greatest year of my life. Allow me to do a quick recap, outline style: I finished out the second semester as the RA of the greatest floor ever. 3rd Floor Templin > all other floors in history I graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Kansas. I managed to hit the GPA I wanted and worked for the last two years of college. Future schooling remains to be seen... I lived someplace OTHER than the dorms and my parent's house: ...

Motto: 364 days until Christmas! I'm writing you this right now from the couch in the living room in my parent's house, laying on my back, using my tablet. Christmas was technically yesterday, but I haven't went to sleep yet. The whole presents thing happened roughly 14 hours ago. All-in-all, of was a great time. I was very happy I got to spend some time with the family. Also - I got to spend some time with my girlfriend's family; which is very important to me as well. In both instances, card games, boards games, and good food was had all the way around.  Also, I got paid just the same amount as I'd I had went to work. You really can't ask for a better time than that. It was perfect. The point of view of the Catan grand champion Some other things I've been thinking about lately: 8.53792 = Pie ... because ... 3.14159 * 2.71828 = 8.53792 The column is fantastic because it let's me share a diverse set of creative output. This incl...

Motto: The movie “Big Fish” sucked. I don’t want to start the column off with a downer, so how about a short joke? What’s brown and sticky? A stick. Now that we’re all happy, I’m going to list off a few things that annoy me: · Windows that you can’t resize on your computer. I can understand in some circumstances why some windows aren’t resizable. Creating a sleek and scalable UI takes time and skill, for smaller portions of the program, there may not be a good reason to do so. I’m okay with a settings menu that isn’t resizable. What I’m not okay with is a “choose a file from your computer” window that isn’t scalable. When your program tells me to pick a picture out of my picture library that literally contains thousands of pictures, it BETTER not restrict me to seeing two thumbnails at a time. · People or companies that try to sell you things online, then include only 3 or 4 low quality pictures of the item. Even worse – when they include ONE picture, and when you click on the pict...

Motto: This Motto isn't Orange, it's Golden. Yesterday a few things happened. My new Nexus 4 became my official "make calls on" phone. My Galaxy Nexus went to my father... as did my old phone number. I got a new phone number. I signed up for a Google Voice number. I became no longer funded by my parents on one more thing. The last step between me and full-blown adulthood is the fact that I still drive around a hand-me-down car. That will change one of these months. With that, I'll be on my own car insurance, and I'll be 100% self-funded. Why get a Google Voice number? If you are REALLY interested, watch this minute and a half video Google made. There are two reasons I got Google Voice, none of which are listed on that video - 1. There was a Google service that existed that I wasn't using... of course I want it. I want to be knowledgeable in ALL facets of Google services such that I'm capable of fielding ANY question about any of them. This is the ...

Motto: Purity is in the eye of the column writer Last night I was looking through the column on my (old) Galaxy Nexus using the Google Currents app. Currents, if you don't know, is a news/RSS reader that pulls text articles and pictures in from various websites. They are aggregated them and formatted in an easy-to-digest manner for mobile. Currents can be wonky at times, especially if the sites from which it pulls are not put together neatly on the back-end. Today marks the first column I'm writing with my new, more pure, more simple Column Starting Template. You may notice subtle changes between this column and the one below it. Then again, you may not. Either way, I'll feel a lot better about it. The next, and last, thing I'm going to write about is what came in the mail for me today while I was at work: My Nexus 4. Let me set the scene for you. I picked up my package from the front desk. Brought it to my room. Turned on only the lights that I needed to to see w...

Motto: Randall Munroe is my hero. Yesterday I got stuck on the elevator in my building. I was trapped, alone in a 4x6 cell for 45 minutes. The worst part of it all: I had no cell service. NO CELL SERVICE . I had to THINK . I had to BE ALONE WITH MY THOUGHTS . I wasn't ENTERTAINED BY ANYTHING . I'm fairly sure it's the hardest thing anyone has ever had to go through ever. Actually I made a video while I was in there. Just spent an hour clipping out some of the better parts. Here's the best 3 1/2 minutes: Today I won $60 on a slot machine bet. I came out of the casino with all 60 of those dollars, too. If you watched that video before reading on, you'll already have known that. I've been to a casino twice in my life now. Even when I actually win I don't like them. It feels... weird. Wrong. The second thing I wanted to write about was pretentiousness. I have two stories to share of pretentiousness. Pretentious- (adjective) attempting to i...

Motto: Nerds rule the world. The other day I hopped on the elevator at my apartment/condo complex and something statistically unlikely happened. Two more gentlemen followed me in, both of which were going to my floor, neither of which was accompanied by the other. First off, I would estimate that I ride the elevator by myself 80% of the time, with 1 other person 10%, with 2 other people 5%, with more than 2 for the remaining 5%. So, already, we are sitting at a one-out-of-twenty circumstance. No big deal. I won’t get into the fact that all of us were guys (12.5% chance of that; or possibly 25% depending upon definitions). I was going to the 5th floor of a 16 floor building. The bottom 2 floors don’t have housing. The top floor only has one or two high-rollers on it, so I’ll count them out. Assuming an even distribution of residents within the building, the chance of the first passenger following me living on my floor is 1/13, or ~7.7%. The chance of the second passenger going to the ...

Motto: Prevention is 16 times more effective than cure, by weight. Working out: What happened? I have been throttling my workouts on a bi-weekly basis. Every other week I work out the amount that I aspire to... the remaining weeks I work out as much as the average* American does: None at all. *this is average by mode, which is not my preferred averaging method. Something I forgot to mention in my last post: I ordered the Nexus 4. Shipping is expected within the next 2 to 3 weeks, so hopefully I will get that before Christmas time. Day 3 without Facebook or (copious amounts of) Reddit: I woke up this morning gasping for air. The cold sweat left its mark on the pillow where my face indention usually resides. I realized shortly after waking that it wasn't actually air that I was missing, it was stupid internet sites. Knowing sleep was no longer an option, I forced myself into the shower. I fought less than usual for a desirable temperature before taking in the water's warm t...