Henceforth Known as MVK

Greetings, and welcome to MVK, one of a bagillion other places on the internet where you can waste your precious time. But since I'm in no position to question your motives, I'll assume you're here for good reason, and as such it is my duty to entertain you as best I can. If you're new to this site, or you like to click on links, I invite you to check out the MVK Newbie Guide. All aspects of the site are explained there, taking up space that I can't afford to use on this main page. Speaking of the main page, here you will find, besides this rambling introduction, my daily rants and latest updates, conveniently archived for your convenience. Oh yeah, and don't forget to start from the bottom of the page, since the most recent stuff is at the top.

12/07/02 - My Apoligies

To all of my loyal readers out there, I'm sorry that you've had to suffer for two long weeks without an update. I'd write something now, but in the next few days, I'll be setting myself up with an account over at livejournal.com, which will make updating easier, and even allow you guys to comment on my posts, should you feel the need. I did make a few minor changes to the color scheme today, as I discovered that only six of the 256 possible values for each color are "safe." Values that aren't "safe" may look slightly different on different operating systems or web broswers, which explains why this site looks so funky sometimes. You'll notice that I'm using a slightly darker shade of purple, and I got rid of the stupid ovals around the post titles. Other than that, everything's pretty much the same. I've already made a little post about the song I'm listening to, and Bill Maher deserves some more time on my menu, so no link or music this time.

11/24/02 - No More Hikaru no Go

I finished the 53rd episode of Hikaru no Go, which puts an end to the ones I currently have downloaded. I saw episode 55 on the internet earlier, but I've yet to see episode 54, so I'll just wait a little while. The actual series can't be any further than around 56, so they're actually keeping up with the translations pretty well. I'm pretty sure they do them in groups, which is fine be me. The next anime I'm working on is called Chobits, and I've got the first half of it. Chobits is the standard Japanese TV series length of 26 episodes, which will be nice on my quickly diminishing CD-R spindle. Chobits is a strange series, set in Tokyo, if I remember correctly. The world it takes place in is basically identical to our own, except that instead of PCs, they have Persocons, which are anthropomorphic computers that walk around with their users. The main character finds an abandoned Persocon in a dumpster, named Chii. This being anime, she's of course naked when he finds her. Hilarity ensues. I only saw the first episode before, but I play to remedy that situation tomorrow. And if all goes well, there won't be anything more racy than some fanservices. There is a Chobits hentai available for download on iMesh, but I'm not touching that one...

I'm actually toying with the idea of learning Japanese, which I figure will be similar to Greek. I mean, it will be harder, since Japanese has way more than 24 characters, but I'll actually be able to use it in conversations, which should help me remember it. And between anime and imported games, I should get plenty of practice. Unfortunately, the three Japanese language courses that Penn State offers are taught in alternating semesters, so I wouldn't be able to start until next Fall anyway. Gives me plenty of time to realise that taking another language course would be the worst thing I could do to myself.

Currently Listening to:Cranberries - Dying in the Sun

11/21/02 - Too Much Free Time!

Believe it or not, I actually had more free time today than I knew what to do with. I'm only taking 14 credits this semester, so my homework schedule is pretty light, and on nights when I don't work, I usually have lots of time to watch anime and play video games. Today I've had about twelve hours of free time, which is great, except that tomorrow I'll have maybe two hours, if I'm lucky. In a perfect world, I'd have four or five hours of video game time daily, but as it is, I have to get it where I can get it. And to those of you out there who don't have any free time: just drop your hardest class. It worked for me.

I finally beat the last Orc mission in Warcraft III, so I can finally start playing as the Night Elves. I'm ashamed to admit that I'm stuck on the first level right now, but it's not really my fault. It's the first mission, so the only units I can produce are archers. Archers are fine units, but without any melee support they get killed in about three seconds flat. A bow doesn't do all that much good when there's a dude with a giant axe two feet away. On the anime front, I'm almost out of Hikaru no Go episodes to watch. I've got up to episode 53 downloaded, and I just finished episode 47. I'm pretty sure episode 56 aired this week in Japan, so the fansubbers aren't doing too badly. If I was actually paying for these things, I'd be upset. But to be fair to myself, there's no way this anime will ever be lisenced in America, so I'm not really ripping the company off. If they want to translate their product into English, I'll gladly buy it. Speaking of Go, I tried playing on-line a little bit yesterday, and got totally wasted. Well, it turns out that the guy who schooled me goes to the same school as me. He lives in my old dorm, which means I have somebody else to play Go with in person. As much fun as playing against Jon is, I'd like to have some more varied opponents.

If all nine planets align and hell freezes over, there's about an even chance that Avi, Zach and I will be able to leave for Thanksgiving break on Tuesday night. In order for this to happen, I have to hand in a CSE 411 assignment one day early, Zach has to skip his Wednesday classes, and Avi's professor has to postpone the exam currently scheduled for 8 AM on Wednesday. I'm hoping that the professor in question wants to go home just as much as her students, becuase having an extra day of break would be really sweet.

Currently Listening to: Men at Work - Land Down Under

11/18/02 - Consistent Work Schedule

It took a little paperwork and a lot of patience, but I finally got the schedule I wanted at work. Since Police Services works on a two-week schedule, I ended up working alternate Mondays and Wednesdays. The Wednesdays were especially bad, since I work a seven-hour shift every Thursday. Some people like to work like four or five days in a row, so that they have the rest of the two week period off. I, on the other hand, like to have my shifts spread out, since my feet start to hurt if I work too many days in a row. Anyway, last week the Monday shift opened up on the week where I work Wednesdays, so I made a swap. Not only do I greatly appreciate the consistency in my schedule, it will allow me to get into a rhythm, and I'll never accidentally miss a shift.

The Mecherath Weight Loss Program seems to be working well. I started drinking only water at meals, and I'm trying my best to eliminate all fried foods from my diet. I've limited myself to two desserts per week, and I try to have fruits and vegetables at every meal. The vegetables are usually easy to come by, thanks to the salad bar, and my love for broccoli, cauliflower, and cucumbers. Fruits are a little more difficult, since I'm terribly picky when it comes to apples and oranges. Pineapples are a personal favorite though, and I practically jump for joy when they're served. I'm very close to giving up pork and beef, though there's no way I'd ever go vegetarian. I like chicken and turkey way too much. Anyway, I've been eating healthier for about two weeks, and so far I've lost 8 pounds. I was actually questioned about unexplained weight loss when I went to donate plasma on Friday, because I had lost 10 pounds since September. I just told them I was eating better and walking a lot, which is true. I briefly considered telling them that I simply vomit after every meal, but I was afraid they'd take me seriously.

Go's been going well, though I suffered a rather painful loss to Jon yesterday. I beat him in an example game we played for Avi on Friday, though we agreed in advance that it wouldn't count. Plus we were talking to each other and Avi the whole time, to give him a feel for the game. Also, there were a few places where we took back moves, which would have never happened in a real game. I'm still leading the series by a small margin at five games to four, and frankly, I'm getting a little worried. Schedules permitting, we plan to play again on Wednesday, and I really don't want to deal with a tie. I've grown used to my two game lead, and I'd like to get it back. Jon and I also started playing Go on-line, with limited success. Jon basically played a game of Tutoring Go with an opponent who was way out of his league. I played an unranked player and was doing pretty well, but I ended up losing the game 106 moku (territory points) to 101.5. The infuriating part is that if we had been playing with the standard komi rule, I would have won by 0.5 moku. Komi represents a number of points given to white, to offset the advantage black gains by going first. The game I played was using a value of 0.5 (to prevent ties), but the standard value between equally skilled opponents is 5.5. Of course, I knew the value of komi when the game started, so I can't really complain too much. It certainly won't stop me though.

Currently Listening to: REM - Green Grow the Rushes

11/16/02 - Return of the All-Purpose Sensory Dome

Sometime back in high school, I had this rather large bump on my left cheek. I didn't know what it was, so I would joke that I was growing a third ear. Eventually I decided that a third ear wasn't nearly ambitions enough, so I dubbed it my All-Purpsose Sensory Dome, or ASPD for short. It actually turned out to be an ingrown hair, which isn't nearly as cool as an ASPD, and a little gross to boot. Anyway, the Dome is back, but fortunately, it's much smaller this time. I've decided to blame it on the fact that I shaved my beard. No matter what goes wrong in my life, it's because my job forces me to be clean-shaven. It's kind of wierd though. People at work say they can't picture me with a full beard, just like my friends from school a few months ago said they couldn't picture me without one.

Things are looking good academically for the first time in a while, and unless I totally screw up some final exams, I should have no trouble keeping a 3.2. And if by some bizzare miracale, I do well on the exams, I could even end up making Dean's List again. Of course, I'm not getting my hopes up, which isn't difficult, since making Dean's List doesn't really mean anything. Maybe if they gave you a plaque or something. But all you get is a letter in the mail. Learning to accept mediocrity also helps, which I did a long time ago.

I saw The Good Girl today with everybody and their mom, and was highly entertained. I was only there for Zooey, so no matter how good or bad the film was, I knew I'd leave satistifed. As it turns out though, the movie was excellent, and good performances were turned out by everybody, including Jennifer Aniston. She's the star of the film, which leaves Zooey with a supporting role, as usual, but I didn't mind too much. Almost every line Zooey had was hilarious, so I can't wait to see the rest of her movies. I only had a few complaints with the movie, and one of them was an extended sex scene. You don't see anything, which puts it a step above Monster's Ball, but I don't actually need to see the the male lead thrusting his pelvis into Jennifer for like 20 seconds. I know they have sex in the movie. I've seen it before. Just move on. Besides that, there was a brief moment of full frontal naked guy. And of course, it was one of the movie's less attractive characters. But besides offending my Victorian sensibilities once or twice, let me reiterate that The Good Girl is a fine film.

Currently Listening to: Limahl - The Neverending Story Theme

11/12/02 - The Fine Art of Bitching

Super Cool Update: The little program that counts my bandwidth usage was broken until about 5 hours ago, so I got the 1.2 gigs of anime I downloaded on Saturday for free. Score!

If you know me, you know that I'm never one to shy away from complaining. I've been trying to cut down lately, with little success, but things at work lately have been such that bitching is my only recourse. To start things off, I didn't get to work the computer last Thursday like I was counting on, because somewhere down the line, my paperwork got lost. We called up the support office when my password didn't work, and they had never heard of me before. Things are currently being straightened out, but with the bureaucracy that is Penn State, I'm not expecting much. While walking when I was expecting to surf the net was disappointing, it was nothing compared to what happened Friday. I had just gotten back from teaching Avi the basics of Go, and was about to go to dinner, when I see a message on my answering machine. "HaHa," the random RHSU employee laughed, "We changed the schedule without telling you, so that you work today, and you were supposed to be here half an hour ago! Ha!" So instead of eating dinner like a normal person, I had to head into work and do a seven hour shift. The game on Saturday wasn't bad, just slightly tiring after two seven hour days. Today was a little annoying, but only because I got my hopes up about working the computer. Apparently there's some complicated system that determines who gets to work it next and right now, I'm somewhere in the middle of the list. Such is life. But that didn't stop me from complaining about it.

Jon officially ended my winning streak on Sunday, in a fantastic display of Go prowess that left me weeping in shame. The slaughter was so wholesale that I was left with no other choice but to resign. I made up for my gruesome defeat by stomping Jon into the ground today, putting our series at 5-3. Actually, my victory today was pretty close, although it could have been worse if I had capitalized on a fatal mistake he mad during the endgame. I could have captured about 10 of his stones in one move, but luckily for him, I missed it.

I've got my second Math 467 test on Wednesday, and I'm not looking forward to it. The material on this test is harder than on the last one, and I doubt his makeup policy will be as generous this time. My last class ends at 3:20 tomorrow though, so after that it's nothing but studying until I go to bed. Well, except for the occasional break to play Final Fantasy II. I'm about two thirds through that game, and I aim to beat it this week.

Currently Listening to: Third Eye Blind - Jumper

11/07/02 - Infrequent Posting

It's no coincidence that the day after my Go board came, I stopped posting on MVK. Until today, Jon and I had played at least one game every night. And at an hour per game, that cuts into the time that I'd usually spend keeping you all posted on the mundane details of my life. Jon won the first two games we played on the 19x19 board, which was quite discouraging, but I'm currently in the middle of a four game winning streak, so things are looking up. Jon's vowed that he'd quit the game before he'd take handicap stones against me, which might actually mean he's dedicated enough to practice his skills online. I've only played a few matches on The Panda Egg Go Client, and they were either far too easy or far too difficult. Also, it's just not as fun unless you can see your opponent and laugh as they slowly realize how much superior to them you really are. Avi's agreed to learn Go sometime this week, though whether the lesson will end up being on Friday or Sunday is yet to be seen.

There's a very good chance that I'll be working the computer tomorrow at work, and it's about time. During every shift, they need one person to stay in the office to handle the computer and communicate with the other employees out on campus. New employees are supposed to get trained after 70 hours of work, but that hasn't been the case for me. I've been there for 100 hours with no results. I'm convinced that tomorrow will be my day though, and not just because I'd rather surf the internet for seven hours than walk for seven hours.

Things are looking good financially for the first time in a while. I got that $3000 scholarship I applied for, which means paying for school won't be a problem this spring. And as an added bonus, I've decided to use the money I was saving for tuition to buy a sweet new computer in January. I just haven't been able to live with myself since my brother got a new computer. I mean, who do you think should have the better computer? The Computer Science major or the Electrical Engineering major? Precisely. I also got this awesome letter in my mailbox yesterday about the Ronald E McNair Scholars Program, which is pretty much a free ticket into grad school. Unfortunately, one of the requirements is that your family be considered low income, and I don't think we qualify. The one time in my life I'm rooting to be poor, and it doesn't work out. I'm meeting with them tomorrow just to find out though, because if we're on the right side of the poor threshold, this could be a good opportunity.

Currently Listening to: Dido - Don't Think of Me