You're only given one spark.

On Friday while I was feeding Jen's pet I decided to check my email by using an ethernet cord and their modem, as our power was still out. When I finished I shut down my computer


Later that day our power came back on, and when I started booting my laptop up again, it booted partway and then stopped. I just hung there, doing seemingly nothing.

I tried everything, another hard drive, a linux live cd, a live cd on a hard drive, different recovery modes, windows, the whole lot of it.
Every single one of them froze somewhere while booting.
Ever. Single. One.
When the same things worked with other computers.
It's a little sad, but it seems that 362 days after my previous computer's motherboard fried, I fried something on the motherboard of my new one.
I'm an abusive owner

They were nearly identical models, but this one was slightly faster (it was still about four years old, so oh well).

I think that -once again- the hard drive is fine, but it's still more than a little annoying that it just upped and died right now. I say right now because I am planning on getting a new computer sometime this summer, I just don't know quite when yet, as I am suspicious that the company is coming out with a new model imminently sometime in the next month or so.
It's a pity, but oh well, I can survive off of the unused (albeit, rather old) desktop at our house until I do get a new one.

It's just hilarious that I killed this one 362 days after the last one died. I'm pretty exact with frying motherboards it seems.

Today I observe the end of something.
The end of three-and-a-half years of looks in the hallway and words uttered. Three-and-a-half years of compliments paid and laughter garnered. Three-and-a-half years of keeping things dry. Three-and-a-half years of carrying and lugging.
The end of my duct tape backpack.
On a whim one day I tried out my sister's backpack, and discovered that I really liked the features that it had, a waist strap, on-the-fly adjustability, many pockets, getting fatter backwards instead of sideways, and feeling comfy.
Of course, it got my brain going.

How could I pull something like that off with a duct tape design.

And it is on that note that version 3.0 started to create itself in my mind.
Previously I had been on 2.5 after the back and straps were revamped, but this is more than a step, this is a leap forwards in what I can do.

I have the tape.
I have the time.
I have the skill.

Next step, duct tape backpack version 3.0.

I just did... (counts)
Amanda, Vuk, Nadia, Nick, Jessa, and Matan's PTIPs.
Yeah. Submitted six PTIPs today. Amanda's just needed to be finished, and then I just got a groove. I mean, WOW.

This is sort of... Unprecedented insanity. I don't know how I'm even conscious at this point.
PTIPs are probably the most emotionally draining assignments on the face of the earth. It's condensing somebody's council into giving them advice. Distilling facts into an intangible thing that we call a person.

Now, usually I can do one, maybe two a day. I've done three once before, but that left me fried.
and I just did SIX of the bastards.
And did a pretty damn good job if I do say so myself.

I honestly don't know what to think of that. It's... madness, simply madness.

Maybe something is acting up in my subconscious?
Maybe I've finally cracked and gone totally batshit insane? (more so than I already was at least?)

I honestly really should go to bed
I suspect that when head hits pillow, head will feel sudden lack of consciousness.


Actually, I are Spazzed right now. It are good thing. Grammar damned be.

Oh my god. We played Carnegie Hall.

CARNEGIE HALL

I was so happy we got to do that. On stage during Mass (part of La Fiesta Mexicana) it hit me that we were playing Carnegie Hall, and I seriously was shaking. It was incredible. Simply incredible.

Yeah, New York was sweet, we got to see a lot, and do a lot (New York Philharmonic, Wicked, Behind the Emerald Curtain, The MET (OH MY GOD SO MUCH ART SO LITTLE TIME), etc.

It was amazing. I'll be facebooking pictures eventually. Emphasis on eventually as I need to put up the Humanities trip photos first, and I'm on album number fifteen for those. The worst part is that album fifteen isn't even the halfway point. Yeah, I'm crazy.


Anyways, I need to stop writing here and go to bed. Seriously, my brain is shot. I have Too Much Stuff to do.
I just need to survive tomorrow though. Nevermind how well I survive it, I just need to survive it.

So I'm back from Europe (which was completely and utterly mind-blowingly AWESOME) and have gotten sick.

It's a hacking cough. Pretty painful, but hopefully a day of sleeping and catching up will do it good.


In other news, I'm going to the University of Wisconsin Madison.
I sent the deposit check yesterday, so I'm completely done with choosing a college to go to.

Strangely enough though, I also already know where my room is.
When I filled out the housing preferences I chose a living learning community as my top choice, and then yesterday they emailed me.
The email said that since I had selected that community as my first choice, I had the option of choosing a dorm room now rather than having a lottery later.
I went with it and was offered a floor plan and list of rooms. This lead to subsequent finding of a campus map, and then subsequent use of Google Earth to find the building.

It's a pretty nice location on the whole. I mean, all of the dorms are, but this one is right near the building where the marching band keeps their stuff, and also relatively close to engineering.
On the whole, pretty nice.

Now we just wait for more stuff to fill out and such.


Blar, and I'm off now to play catch up on work. Sleep is nice.

Today was a Seriously Intense day.
It was the first day in a while that I biked to school.
I had tests in both BC Calculus, and AP Physics, that's third and fourth hour for those who don't know my schedule.
It was raining out as I biked to school.

Of course my council would be today in Philosophy


Last weekend I got in to UW Madison, as evidenced by the "Whoo!" post. It made me very happy. Christy's council was Thursday (day before her birthday) and she said that it made sense that people's councils happened after major events in their lives.
Today I was thinking that this would be the first male council after I had gotten into UW Madison, and that it would make too much sense for mine to be today.
It also made a lot of sense that mine would be today because of the two tests back to back.
So when JR took out the packet of the pieces that we all wrote to read at the beginning of our councils, I had a feeling. I had all morning, just because it would make me say "figures".

He proclaimed that he would take out the first male name that he found. I watched as he stopped shuffling, and started looking around the class, asking people who he thought it was going to be.

I was suspicious, because people always think it's going to be their day, but a second before he called me, I knew. He looked me way and said that it was my day. I laughed, walked up, sat down, started recording, got up, wrote my name on the board, and sat down.
Now I had to pick someone to introduce me. None of my close friends are in the class, but I know some people in it.
I looked about, thinking, and settled on Noah Mosberg.
It was a fitting introduction, and from there it was shiny.

Oh, and my sister says that JR was raving about how cool my council was during lunch. No specifics of course, just that it was really good.
Sweet.

:D

Edit: Holy bees, even now it has stayed intense.
Over the weekend I looked up a couple of Tuba playing engineers in the Wisconsin marching band and emailed them asking about it.

Today I talked to both of them, and wow, I learned a lot. Seriously man, intense.

I am incredibly drained right now, in the best way possible, I am able to stay awake right now and feel good, but man, I can tell that once my face hits a pillow, I will be gone. Gone like beer at a frat party, gone like fresh baked cookies with friends, gone like the first bowl of popcorn you make before watching a movie.
That sort of gone. I'm functional, but only because it's a habit.
Now, goodnight, that pillow looks about as appetizing as those foods I just described (sans the beer of course).

This is a celebratory "Whoo" post.


WWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!


That is all.

Edit: <i> What a glorious feeling I'm happy again...<i>

I haven't felt this good in a long time. It's been a while, but I think I'm back.
:)

We threw snowballs at the train last night.
It was totally sweet.

I kept my gloves off to press the shutter button. When I saw the train coming, I waited as it lit up the trees with the spotlight at its head and then curved down the tracks towards us.
Once it hit the straightaway I tensed up., waited just a couple of seconds, trying to mentally gauge when I should press it for the picture that I wanted, with that, I pressed the button and started scrambling to get my gloves on.

Laura had made me a couple of snowballs. I got the gloves on (after putting one on backwards) after the train began to pass us.
As it came upon us, snow whipped up around us. I stooped to pick up the snowballs and stood to find myself looking straight at it.
This mass of steel and light whooshing by. Snow whirling about it.
I was awed.
Smiling, I threw first one snowball, then the other to see them swallowed whole by the snow whirling about the train.
I watched the rest of it go by.

It wasn't the best picture that I've taken, but it was definitely one of the coolest times just watching the train.

YAY!
It was a great way to bring in the new year.

I have a random thing that causes me to have asthma like symptoms after I bike to school!

you know the best part?

It's not asthma!

You see, when I bike to school I feel absolutely fine.
Until I stop.
Then suddenly things get weird. I feel it almost come on when I stop at stadium and seventh, but when I stop to lock up my bike it gets crazy.
It suddenly feels like I can't take a breath right, that whether it is full and slow or fast or whatever, it's never right. My chest feels tight and it feels like I'm about to faint. The air in my lungs feels stale no matter what I do.
But I never do faint, I just feel really weird and tight and strange to breathe for minute or so (usually less) and then I'm back to normal.

Sounds like asthma, right?
I thought so too after my tuba teacher mentioned it to me at a lesson recently.

Tonight I was talking with Katrina, and I mentioned this, she described something that happened to her sometimes after running.
It was exactly what happens to me, and it's in fact some weird thing that has symptoms very much like those of exercise induced asthma, but in fact is different, because asthma has to do with not being able to inhale correctly, as this is essentially not being able to exhale correctly.

This other thing also allegedly happens a lot in teenagers and people generally around my age-ish.
Don't worry, this isn't a new development either, and it isn't fatal in any way.
It's just random.

Ergo, I don't have asthma but i have this other random thing!

1:39 AM Eastern Standard Time: I finished the book Special Topics in Calamity Physics.
This may only be a milestone to me, but oh well.
It means something to me. Staying up is well worth it.
Even if the ending broadsides you the way nothing else can.

Seriously, didn't see it coming. The last chapter is a doozy. Not in the way you're thinking either.
All the revelations came earlier, it just has one last curve ball, not plot wise, but oh hell, go read it.

Today did not go as planned.

I had hoped to go shopping with Laura and then work on homework before I left for a Channukah party at the Blumenthals.

At 11:00 I got up to find a missed call from Ryan King asking me to fix his computer. I called him and said that I could go over soon to fix it. His computer was bluescreening and he wanted me to back up his data.

No big deal, pop in a linux live cd, boot it, retrieve data, get paid, done.
Then I could go home and go shopping with Laura and do homework.

I travel to Ryan's house.

Six hours later his computer is finally fixed.
It was full of epic.

I'd gotten there, after a while, figured out that his computer can't run linux (too little RAM for ubuntu, and his graphics card doesn't work with Xubuntu). With an interlude of trying to burn a xubuntu cd on his parent's computer, which can only download programs through a truly FAILING internet connection (OH GOD THE PAIN!!!) because it didn't have a program that could otherwise burn cd's (oh windows, how do you ifail, let me count the ways...).
It also would not run linux.

So I drove home to get my xubuntu cd, and then it failed on Ryan's computer. I can get a command line in either ubuntu or xubuntu, but i don't understand that.
I go and call Nima, who knows command line very well and has helped me before.

After a good chunk of typing we determine that something is funny. The hard drive doesn't seem to register any files.
Huh.
That's not right.

So we grab a windows recovery disk that they got with the computer and run check disk from it.
After another hour or so in which it returns to 50% about three times, it finishes.
Finally.
While holding my breath i start up the computer.
Low and behold, the bastard finally works.
God damned thing...

On the other hand, I got paid. On the other hand, I have a lot of homework to do and didn't get to see Laura...

The Channukah party was sweet though. Lots of Jews in one place for food always means awesome.

One down, two to go!


...I still say the undergraduate admissions office is evil though.

Hokay, so.

MSU: What the hell man? What the hell? Seriously. You can't be more of an ass than that. IT IS PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO BE MORE OF A SADISTIC, EVIL, AND UNHOLY ORGANIZATION THAN THIS.

And I quote:
*ahem*
"A decision was made on Wednesday, November 21, 2007.  An official letter was mailed to you. Admission decisions are not provided over the telephone. Decision letters are mailed to applicants and typically take 7-10 business days to receive."
-The MSU application status check website

WHAT THE HELL MAN?!

Ok... I'm done. I'll go and wait until I'm back in Ann Arbor to see if the envelope has gotten there.
Seriously though, is the internet not good enough for you?


Anyways, Cleveland is good. We went to see an exhibit of "Modern Masters" today at the Cleveland Art Museum.
It was pretty badass. I am willing to bet money that we will see many of those paintings again in Humanities.
It was impressionism to... sometime in the 1940's.
Picasso, Van Gogh, Dhali, Monet, Rodin, Brancusi, and a lot of others.
Seeing all of those great works all in one place is really really sweet.

Also, Guitar Hero III. My cousin has it.
THERE IS A DRAGONFORCE SONG!!!!!
Miriam completed it, (Through the Fire and Flames) on easy, and it was still Epic.

Yeah, break is good. I like it. Except the part where MSU is toasting themselves to their evil ways.
gggggggrrrrr....
Ok, I'm all done with that now... Happy thought...
Napalm to the DPV... Rhododendrons+deathmowers...spiking laptops with hammers...

Okie! Good times!

Tonight I decided to change location to Borders to work on an essay, as I had already looked over my other homework. It was good, I think I might actually have a good essay going now...
But of course the interesting is really when I leave the parking structure.

I pull out of my spot, go down, and stop at the kiosk thing in order to pay. I give her the money, and then as I'm about to pull away the lady in the booth says, "Hey, wait, do you know macs?"
I pause and say that yes, I do know macs. It is at this point I notice the powerbook G4 (late powerbook G4, looked like a macbook pro except for the writing which decreed it to be a G4, and also the power plug, but anyways...) sitting on the cash register.
Now this is nothing new to me, I've seen people with their computers in the booths before, and it's no surprise that this woman has hers too.

She proceeds to explain that she was trying to upload pictures to photobucket when it suddenly froze and turned off. I ask if I could see it, and she hands it to me through the window.
Now, a computer randomly freezing and shutting down, my mind says "Worst case scenario: fried motherboard."
Of course, that would be horrible to have happen, but the symptoms could be that, or just a random freeze.
However, when I go tot turn it on, the power button doesn't do anything. I turn it over and remove the battery, hoping that having the battery out for a few seconds will help things.
As I'm snapping it back in, a guy comes over to the booth, presumably her boss (she has explained that this is his computer, she is merely using it). Now as he's walking over I hold down the power button.
Low and behold! The little power light that mac laptops have on the front blinks rapidly, and then I feel things moving! The fan goes! The CD drive does something, and I hear a distinctly mac "dddddddaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh" noise.
My mind breathes a mighty sigh of relief, and I hand the laptop back to her just in time for her boss to ask what's going on.
I ask if it's booting now, and she says that it is, so indeed the screen is going too. She thanks me, and I drive off.

Now my only question is, why did she randomly decide to ask me? Was I just there at an opportune moment? Or was there something about me that screamed "LOOK! HE CAN FIX IT! ASK MYSTERY BOY OVER HERE!" or "Hi, I fix computers."?

The lols. Seriously.


Edit: So that was actually last night (the 14th).
Also, yesterday Emily Larson gave me three laptop batteries, two of them were for a Powerbook G4 laptop. For the Titanium edition (the most hardxcore mac laptop ever). Now those are old, and I've only seen a couple, ever.
Tonight I went to espresso royale to work on a scholarship essay with a few writer friends, amidst the festival of hilarity ("Can has Nom?" "You has Nom!" "I must nom!" etc...) I see someone walk past us and sit down behind us.
I turn around.
Low and behold! A Powerbook G4 Titanium!
My brain does a loop. I ask them if they would be interested in the  batteries. They say no (I think they thought I meant for money), and so I turn around.
Later as we're about to leave, I turn around and just give them to her. She graciously accepts, and whee! successful re purposing of technology!

It was good times.

I hate waiting.
I hate the lines of text sitting in front of me. Teasing me. Someone has it in their hands, or in a stack, or in a folder, or as zeros and ones somewhere on a computer.
I hate that they judge me without knowing me.
I hate that they tell me what they're doing.

I just want an answer.
I just want to see.


It's out of my hands though. There is nothing that I can do. I can only hope and pray that what I have done is enough. If only if only...
Waiting truly is the worst.

A few days ago I checked the U of M website to find that they have received all of my information.
that's everything, recommendations, transcript, test scores, application, etc.
Everything. They get the 'we're on the ball' award.

Now while that's cool, their website doesn't say anything at all about what they're actually doing with my application, whether that be reviewing, filing, etc. they don't say anything.

Now at The University of Wisconsin's website, they tell me only what I'm missing and what they're doing with the application.
They've said that they have been missing my transcript (or that they haven't filed it, or received a receipt for it... or somesuch) for a few weeks now.
But everything has still been progressing.
First my application was being put together
Then It was being prepared for review
All of this without my transcript.
Then tonight when I checked it, I got this message:
"Your application is being reviewed by one of our admission counselors. Check back here for updates on your application status."
With the link on 'status details' still showing that i need to give them my 'official high school transcript'
I know they have it, because I called them and they know that they received it, so maybe their website is just wrong somehow.

But hey, I'm being reviewed, and I have no idea how long that takes.

...and crap, there is a form for a teacher recommendation...
Well, we'll be taking care of that then.


Edit: In which my transcript (finally) registered.
Over the course of the night.

HOLY BEJESUS MCLOLZORSPANTS!

SOMEONE DID THAT!
IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS OF IT BEING OUT!
CRAPTON! IMA GET ME SOME OF THAT!

...more on this later...

http://dailyapps.net/2007/10/hack-attack-install-leopard-on-your-pc-in-3-easy-steps/

Behold. The impossible, it has been done.

Tonight was my last marching game with Symphony band.
It's a little sad, but hey, I'll march in college, oh hell yes I will.
I love band too much to give it up that easily, the lights, the dancing, the marching, the music, the people, the makeup, the glitter, the everything.

I'll miss it, but only until next year.

After all, colleges march too.