Installing Linux again....

So I bought this used PC, but it's kinda full of dust and dirt. So I'm just gonna scavenge parts, clean them up, and mix them with parts from another PC. Then I'm going to install Ubuntu. It'll be the first time I've ever installed or used Ubuntu, despite hearing so many good things about it over the years. I hope I end up using it longer than I did Red Hat or Mandrake. :)

Life as an SCV; Lost Opportunities

So I know someone who's letting me try working at a shipping company for a bit, huh? Never did real physical labour for pay before, was interested in seeing what it was like. Lot of free time, why not? It gives me money too, while I work on my stuff. :)

There's a lot of activity that happens on the ground at the warehouse where I've been doing stuff for the past two days. Basically, I unwrap big blocks of lumber, restack the lumber, and then rewrap the lumber with a bunch of Mexican dudes. It's cool, and they're teaching me Spanish.

The forklifts are going all over the place, dropping off new shipments of lumber, and picking up the ones we repackaged. You feel small beside some of these things. Then it hit me. I'm an SCV, surrounded by siege tanks and goliaths on patrol. Any minute, I should be expecting a reaver drop or ling rush. And I'm only an SCV. Not even a marine. Not even a medic. A lowly SCV. And I hope that the goliaths will be able to stop the onslaught. Because I certainly don't wanna be hit by the spread of the siege tanks.

And after a couple of days, my body is starting to ache. I go in tomorrow for a third day, and I don't think I'll survive unless I hit the hot tub tonight. So I go to the pool and soak in the hot tub for 10 minutes. It's nice. Get out and lie down on a reclining chair for another 15 minutes. Then go to the shower. But on the way, I pass the pool. I think to myself, gee, it'd be nice to swim a bit. I haven't swum for a month maybe. So I get in the pool.

As I'm fixing up my trunks, this big monster of a guy gets into the pool and moves in front of me. The most intense dose of BO I've ever experienced hits me, and I gag. And then he starts swimming. In the lane where I wanted to swim. Because it was relatively empty. As I watch him splashes through the water and into the distance, the odour finally starts to fade, and I am left with only one unsettling thought: I cannot swim in this water that has been contaminated by whatever caused this odour. I watch the guy to my left move to the other lane and start swimming there, rather than wait his turn for our lane. I think about following him, maybe the contimation won't spread to the rest of the pool so easily. But I realize that the rest of the lanes are too packed.

So I forlornly get out of the water and head for the showers.

It's like an alien world

Today, I watched maybe an entire hour of makeup videos on youtube. @@ Crazy. I never realized how much work girls put into their hair, eyes, skin, etc. It's so friggin complicated. I mean... wow. It's just crazy. @@ And it requires a ton of knowledge. And people (well, the women) look like they actually really appreciate these videos. Check out these comments:

"I was wondering... when you use the kabuki brush to buff the mineral foundation in, doesn't the liquid concealer come off with the brushing? Or is the brand that you showed us really good in that it stays on your skin?
I only conceal. I've tried doing powder foundation but whenever I brush over the concealed parts the colour just comes right off to reveal the redness that was under."

" l have a interview 2morrow and I'm going to do that look.

thank u"

"It is basically like a razor with grooves for safety and so it gets a grip on your hairs, so it will grow back faster than tweezing, because tweezing takes the hair out from the roots. But eyebrow hair doesn't grow that fast. I used the eyebrow shaper between my brows, it took 1 and 1/2 weeks."

" god i really love u !!
i'm from belgium and it's not easy to find these tips in dutch, but with your explanation it is so easy"

"i LOOOOOVE the second look!!! absolutely gorgeous, fun and easy to do :D thanks i've been wondering what to do with my bangs since the haircut lady cut them wrong from the start!!! thanks A LOOOT mwah"

Suffice it to say... if a girl asks me if she looks pretty, from now on, I will say yes, she looks gorgeous. Can't imagine what girls feel if they put all that work into it, and then people tell them it doesn't look good. I mean, most women are naturally beautiful anyway, but now I'll feel super guilty if I ever say no to that question. @@

It's definitely a world I'll never fully understand.

Global Warming is the New Terrorism

I joined another Facebook group today: Against the Global Warming Myth

Here's what I wrote on the group wall.

I read a BBC report and got really pissed, so I found a group like this to join just for the heck of it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7432583.stm

The entire article talks about food prices, and then this little tidbit gets shoved into the article at the end with no explanatory logic.

"The main causes of the rising food prices include rising demand from fast-developing countries, higher oil costs and global warming."

OK, rising demand from fast-developing nations, self-explanatory. Higher oil costs, obviously would increase production costs and thereby outputted food costs. Global warming... how is that connected? @@ Global warming has become the new terrorism but worse. We can now blame global warming for everything from the length of the Iraq war to the Chicago Cubs not winning the World Series. I exaggerate, but hopefully you get my point.

Seriously, how did it get this bad? It now reeks of the overarching rhetoric used to fight the war on terror: "If we don't go to the movies, the terrorists have won. If you don't study hard enough, the terrorists have won. If you don't vote, the terrorists have won. If you don't kiss me, the terrorists have won." Well, maybe we can blame global warming for the increase in crop prices. Because of global warming, people have championed biofuels as an alternative to fossil fuels, leading farmers to produce crops for biofuel to fight global warming, in turn decreasing the supply available for food. But that's not global warming causing an increase in food prices, that's the supply of crops being diverted to biofuel production causing an increase in food prices. But if this is what the journalist truly meant, note how the sentence is worded to make us think that global warming is the ultimate culprit, even when it's not. After all, IF global warming is scientifically valid, there are more effective ways of decreasing carbon emissions than biofuels. Current studies show that biofuels increase greenhouse gases (see Science, February 2008). It's not global warming that's causing an increase in food prices, it's people's stupidity and manic panic.

How long will the novelty last?

I've been learning Python and am starting to play around with Google AppEngine. And surprisingly, it's really nice because I can get things up and running quickly, and focus on actually architecting and building the design, rather than writing stupid SQL queries for the most part.

I'm finding programming fun again. The question is... how long will it last until it gets boring again?

The Monument

Stone upon stone
Heaped to the stars
Not knowing how
Or even why the heap was made
I asked a passerby
The meaning of the stones
A war had been fought here
A final battle waged in blood
A test between champions
Too tired of the bloodshed
And deciding to end it
With one meaningful climax
Whereby the victor
Would lord over the other
Creating a peace that would last
So long as the stones stood
The test of time
So long in its duration
That the battle's legend grew
And the reason for war
Was long forgotten
Until one day I searched for the answer
An epic journey through history
In the annals of the sacred libraries
And finally found record
Of one fierce titanic clash
Between two renown men of valor
Fighting for pride and honour
A contest of wills
Commonly known today
As Rock, Scissors, Paper

I cried

Watching episodes 7, 8, and 9 of Clannad made me cry. Chee. Those weren't even really sad episodes. But they were sad.