The Barbarian Blog

Magenta: not just for sissies anymore!

2008-11-17T19:15:00.003-05:00

Ahhhh snow! Bringing my transit time to campus to a nice round half hour. It's a good thing i like the white stuff

/hums weird al
oh oh oh oh oh
oh oh oh oh
oh oh oh oh oh
THE WHITE STUFF

like a really shitty haiku isn't it?
Haikus must be really easy for Japanese people. What with their language being syllable based. Do english speakers have a form of poetry that easier for us do you think? Probably dirty limericks but that's not language based. Maybe that mishmash stuff like caroll's is the english languages preferred style. What with us making up words all the time.

on the subject of etymology, i learned where the color Magenta came from today. Apparently there was a battle between the Italians and the Austrians that was so violent and bloody that they named the color of the post-battle ground after the battle.

Magenta

and i used to think magenta was a sissy color. reddish-purple was always good enough for me. Hmmm magenta. Possibly my new favorite color.
/snicker
what do you think periwinkle is named for? Kinda sounds dirty don't it?
Among the other oddly named colors we find:
Amaranth
Bistre
Buff
Caput Mortuum
Celadon
Ecru
Gamboge
Hapsufa
Orellian
Razzmatazz
Wisteria and
Zinnwaldite

Two of these are not real colors. If you can tell me which ones, WITHOUT looking it up you win a cookie. A magenta cookie.

Heh heh heh

Yes it's long it's been almost a year

2008-11-11T18:57:00.003-05:00

As the header may indicate it has been almost a year since i posted but by the gods what year. After a semester off, time spent working and playing the wild and ever delightful video game i discovered a neat decidedly useful fact about myne-self. I'm Diabetic.

WHEEEEE

so yes my life is over no more moon mist, no more candy canes and my doctor says i need to lose about 50 lbs. which struck me as ironic as HE looked like he could stand to lose a pant size... or 12. Maybe not ironic maybe hypocritical both probably. AT this point i would like to say a word of thanks to the show "scrubs" for it was their episode wherein turk finds out that HE is diabetic that got me to start thinking about going to see a doctor. SO yes i can now say with complete honesty that "scrubs" saved my life. almost makes me want to pay money for a season... almost.

Anyway around this time or maybe earlier, i think it was about march or april this happened, we get kicked out of our house. yes our landlord finally followed through on his threat/end around dickery and gave us the absolute MINIMUM amount of warning legally allowed in the state. So we had to find a new place. Lucky us my little kith-brother decided that as grad school loomed before him he should invest in the economy by buying a house. So we got one, with real live walls, roof and everything! Well insulated and fraught with happy it was. I am proud to say that i, master of men and mice, am this new house's longest term resident. (having moved in a full 2 days earlier than my fellows) So anyway the long moving of nearly EVERYTHING we own proceeded. stuff we didn't know we had/forgot existed. We're talking things that CHARLIE left (if you know know charlie you know what that means if not... why are you reading this?) But all sorts of fun and frivolity happened and then the amazing and unbelievable happened. I got my security deposit back! First time ever, i didn't think it was gonna happen but i am NOT complaining.

On the next front the war against the diabetes continued. Now it's not as bad as i made it out to be. I don't have full blown practically an insulin junkie type one diabetes but it ain't just pre-diabetes either (which is now apparently ALSO a disease)

I wonder if you can get pre-flu or pre-ebola?

anyway after purging my system or both carbs and sugars... ok at this point i need to set something straight. Diabetics no like-a da sugar the whole carb thing, which i may or may not ramble about is for the diet i'm on. While they DO have some effect on me (carbs) they're not bad for my malfunctioning pancreas. After the 2 week long purging i discover that yes these food DO have an effect on me. My fits of tiredness and apathy may at this point be largely attributed to sugar crashes and pancreatic skull-duggery.

what is duggery? is it digging in the skull?

but yes at first such delicacies as pizza and hamburgers were enough to send me to the aspirin bottle with a massive headache or my pillow for a nice long sugar coma. But i have TRIUMPHED! After much self sacrifice and much drinking of crap beer i am free! I have lost 40 lbs shocking the living crap out of my doctor and with that pizza and KBC beers stand before me. Sure i can't have potatoes, pasta or nearly ANYTHING with excessive sugar in it but I can have pizza, natures most perfect food.

let's see after that school started up again for me. Economics and History being the flavors of the semester. Those seem to be going quite well it was a nice surprise to actually be interested in my subjects again. Of course as the new-class smell wore off them they became less appealing but i will not be DENIED! None shall stand before DOOM! errr.. ME!

In more recent months i have subscribed to comics books (thor thunderbolts and runaways), been the best man for my best friend/ kith sister's wedding, discovered the godsend that is the audio book (makes my job seem to fly by), bought, in part, and xbox 360 (damn you fable 2 damn you to hell) and worked an 60 hour week (my co-working got sent to jail for 60 days for a B&E) and no that's not a bed and Eck-fist that's breaking and entering.

in the last week i have had two exams, read almost every comic book containing my favorite character (dr doom) and NOT voted for anyone in the presidential election.
Democracy is a load of crap and that's all i have to say about that.

Currently i am typing my first blog in more than 11 months.

Later i will call someone and wish them happy b-day.

and that's you're year long up date i know it's long and if you know me it's nothing new but there it is.

happy armistice day. (because armistice is a MUCH cooler word than veteran)

Look what I did

2007-12-10T23:29:00.000-05:00

so i thought to meself maybe I could draw something. Why this occurred to me is now lost int he mist of my frontal lobe.

but here it is.

hope you enjoy

Love in 256 colors

2007-10-10T22:13:00.000-04:00

I made a discovery about myself recently. Not a super surprising or life altering one. But a significant one none the less. No matter how old i get or how many other games i play, the first game i every played on a computer is still my favorite. How lame is that? I've been exposed to other more popular, better rendered games. Guitar hero, halo, Starcraft, the sims, final fantasy, Mario even. Quest for Glory is still the most powerful, the most iconic and best game ever. I wonder how it would hold up for other people. Would they think it sucks? Is it simply my nostalgia that makes me love it so? I don't know. I hope not.

For those of you who don't know and thats probably all of you. Quest for Glory is a series of games made by Sierra. Now I'm talkin old school Sierra, not we've sold out and made empire earth Sierra. This is the game company that brought you such classics as Leisure suit larry, King's quest, Police quest and the gabriel knight series. We're talkin CLASSIC ega/vga games here. Hell the 2nd quest for glory is still TEXT based (they remade the first one).

I think maybe it's the story that gets me. Guy comes out of nowhere, fights the bad guys, fulfills the prophecy, saves the kingdom. Typical story yes, but it was the first time that i'd ever heard it (i got it for my b-day in '92 that makes me 9). I just can't figure out WHY it's so awesome. I mean the series DOES have it's weak points. The third game is kinda lame (by comparison) the 4th game is buggy as all hell (and yet maybe the most awesome of the 5) and the 5th one was made ONLY because they realized they were gonna have a riot on their hands if they didn't do it. Their heart really wasn't in it at the end, and you can tell. BUT STILL FREAKING AMAZING.

Maybe i love it so much cause it's so simple and iconic, kinda the same reason i love the dark tower series so much. Or maybe i really like it cause its everything i wish the world was. Simple, classic, magical. When the bad guy approaches the fight music begins to play, you hit him with your sword, he falls down. Need to solve the unsolvable mystic problem? Don't worry we make a potion for that. Where is my dragon to fight. Where's the goblin nest to clear out. Where's the seedy tavern filled with wizards and hooligans? Where's the poster board with messages like "500 gold pieces and title of hero of the realm to whomsoever banishes the evil Baba Yaga from the land." Where in the hell is the GODSCUSSED magic?

Long Story short, Quest for Glory ruined my life. It made me want what i can never have. So here i am stuck in this banal, washed out, dreg of an existence with only a tiny window into the world that stole my imagination, many hours of my life and my heart.

And yet i still love it.
When i'm done typing this i'll probably go back and play some more. Cause it's never the same as the first time, but it feels pretty damn good anyway.

cause that's love.

Pizza powered EYE-BEAMS of the soul

2007-09-28T23:03:00.000-04:00

So what is it about free food that makes it taste so good? I ask because i just recently came into 3 free pizzas (cheese only but ill get to that) and their deliciousness doesn't seem to correspond with what a normal 5$ pizza should be. Is it a quasi-conservation of energy thing? Wherein free food (in this case energy) enters the equation without causing loss somewhere else? Thus breaking the the laws of physics. Like a Superpower! Thats IT! Free food is the equivalent of eye-beams!

Explanation: Around these parts we decided that if it doesn't break a law of physics then it isn't a super-power. As such any super power should be usable as a source for a perpetual motion machine. We had great fun testing a physics PhD student on the just how to go about making perpetual motion machines out of very strange super-powers. Turning things yellow, phase shifting, and the ability to teleport random barnyard animals all these and more create energy from nothing and thus can power perpetual motion machines. We actually decided that superman's time would have been better spend pushing a giant turbine at mach 3 for 8 hours a day. Thus solving the world's energy problems and freeing up more people and eventually robots to fight something on the order of a thousand times the amount of crime that he's capable of handling. But lets not get started on that underwear-outside-my-pants poncy twit.

But food, to me at least, has always tasted better when it is made with soul. Stupid and hokey sounding i know but here me out. Food from some pre-packaged soulless institution like applebee's will always be a distant second behind some dingy beat up home-style cooking place. And I'm not just saying that cause i work at one. A corner pub always trumps a franchise any day.

And now i sound like a hippy or something. Maybe this is better; free pizza is good but is always ALWAYS trumped by free food cooked my your mum, or dad and the case may be. Is that a matter of perception? Is that because sense-memory brings back your childhood when you eat parental food? A little, yes but there's more. Free food from OTHER peoples parents tastes great too, far better than free domino pizza. Unless of course your parents don't love you. Thats the final test i suppose. If free pizza beats home cooked meal your parents don't really love you. They just fake it for appearances.

This uplifting though has been brought ot you by barbarian INC. "Our food kicks ass"

Subtlety For Dummies

2007-09-26T20:13:00.000-04:00

So the question is "when you make a lame joke and she laughs at it, does it mean she likes you?" I'm a bit out of practice at this considering i haven't had a real date since '01 (pronounced aught one) Is this one of those subtle chick things that i'm supposed to pick up on? Cause i never do. Why can't chicks be LESS tactful? I for one would appreciate it. I decided o those many years ago that i was going to let HER make the first move. Bugger traditionalism! Give me aggression! If she wants me to be Joe 1950's after that, fine! Ok maybe not FINE but at least then i would know what she expects. Not that this policy has been exceptionally effective mind you. What with A) me being something of an "acquired" taste for chicks and B) going to Michigan Tech land of the 5:1 ratio.

in other news:

i get Monday and Friday off from my psych class cause my prof is A) out of town and B) giving us an exam. So THATS nice.

i bought a new axe today at the walmart. Pretty stylish for 3$ plastic.

learned the name of the hardest exam ever. "The Putnam" Apparently getting 1% is amazing.

i have the plague it is not fun. but i have nyquill and IT is.

The 4F's of the ID-brain Fighting, Fleeing, Feeding and.... Mating

crushing your enemies seeing them driven before you and hearing the lamentation of their women, still what is best in life.

althought maybe that is why i haven't had a date in forever.

Let's Give'er another try shall we?

2007-09-25T22:19:00.000-04:00

Everyone always says i should post. But when i go to do so it feels like i need to write something creative. Something awe-inspiring. At least something fairly odd. But usually nothing like that happens to me. I go to work, i go to class, i go to troupe, i go home. In there somewhere food, study and several trips to the bathroom happen. Not the best material for writing. Maybe i should set up some thingy on my computer that reminds me to blog. Or better yet something that makes stuff up and blogs it for me! I would be like an updated version of the computer program that would talk to you. If i could code maybe that would be a real possibility. Whatever.

So whats new and interesting?

I'm in a play. Called "Beyond Therapy" i play a overly macho therapist named Stuart. Apparently i was typecast for this role, so sayith my director at least. That'll be going up in Mid-November sometime.

One of the dishmen at Suomi (that's the breakfast food establishment where i work) decided to quit. Some personal conflict with one of the cooks. I don't know and i don't wanna know. "Let not the words or actions of fools dictate your own. Lest you be seen as one yourself." The practical outcome of this is that i work more shifts. My only real "day off" is now Saturday.

I saw my family on labor day. We did the bridge walk. I rented a car so that i could get there. Did you know that if you're under the age of 25 they charge you extra? What a crock of Bullshit. You know when you turn 21 you kinda say to yourself "finally it's over. theres nothing i can't do. I can drive smoke enlist drink buy lotto tickets and porn even!" but no. it's all a lie a friggen sham. I can be held legally accountable for my actions at 18 but apparently that's not good enough. Hell according to the the FAFSA people i can't be an independent (as in not my fathers dependent) till i am 24. Now I'm peeved.

anyway i saw my family got my bicycle which they brought up for me. So i could start using it to get to work faster ( resulting in an extra 15 minutes of sleep!) But like everything else on earth the bike decided that i should pay for this bonus... IN BLOOD. Apparently my handlebar stripped out. So at 735 as im going to work on the 2nd day i had the damned thing the handle bar flipped resulting in as power slide on pavement. But that's all past. New handle everything's fine, nothing is broken.

At this point i see that i have written wuite bit. This is, i believe, because i haven't posted in several months. I'll try to keep posting but dont expect this amount of volume per post ifn i post more frequently. Savvy?

Math is not Funny

2007-02-20T10:24:00.001-05:00

So had a no-pants show this weekend where we did, in my memory, our first longform for public viewing. It was pretty good, but....
i guess the audience was expecting something funny.
i feel partial responsible for that. I gave the introduction but i didn't want to say to much for fear of tainting it and/or just losing the audience (we had a pretty good vibe going)
it was pretty serious, bout death in a hospital.
\he he he
we made squeakers a murderer
anyway they didn't seem to like it much so we switched back into shortform
next time sombodys gonna give a better intro to it, mostly stressing the fact that
IT MAY NOT BE FUNNY!
\gasp dismay
but all it all i think we doing just fine.

In other news...

I have an exam this week. So i go in for the exam review session this morning and discover that....
my prof cant multiply.
his basic math skills are somewhat lacking
the corrects that we the student had to make were like
"4-2 =2"
and
"6 + 6/4 is NOT 36/4"
that sorta stuff
i mean hes a grad student so hes got bigger maths on his mind but...Jesus
I could teach this better and i SUCK
and i intend to
teach i mean, not suck

SHUT UP

Spooky Math

2007-02-15T14:11:00.000-05:00

Ya know what sucks?
homework
especially calc 3 homework
ESPECIALLY calc 3 homework due today
SUPER ESPECIALLY calc 3 homework due today that I just started last night.
i really need to pay better attention in class. Maybe i would be able to if it weren't at 9am and if my prof didn't just basically read the book at us.

Damn you calculus damn you to crap!

so i ate some food. watched a nice chunk of empire strikes back and pretty much cursed what ever miserable misbegotten bastard who ever thought of gradient vectors. No I'm not looking up who it was.

fine...
/looks confused
wiki has disappointed me.
/blink blink
this is bad. if wiki doesn't know the answer... it might not exist. And if the person who thought of gradient vectors doesn't exist then... Where did they come from?
Spontaneous Math Generation? The Void? The 666 layers of the abyss? Perhaps in performing such calculations I'm serving some dark and evil power bent on world domination and/or the destruction of good saturday morning cartoons? GRAH! i will not be your pawn evil mysterious powers!

I demand a 7% cut! Its standard.

Baby steps of Wiki-Gods

2007-02-14T23:27:00.000-05:00

So i figure the key to maintaining a blog is to do small little posts. Before i found myself saying "I've got nothing to talk about." I realize now that who cares? If i have something to talk about i talk about it, and if not well I'm very good at shoveling Bullshit.

Found a new band i really like. British band by the name of Muse. At first i thought the singer guy might have been the same guy from Radiohead. They sound so similar. But unless big daddy wikipedia is LYING to me he ain't. Maybe I'm out of touch maybe ALL British singers sound like that now-a-day.

Is Radiohead british....
/new window opens
/mucho typery
Not only are they [Radiohead] from england (oxfordshire) but i now have a wikipedia search box on my google frontpage. All praise the mighty WIKI-Gods! All gory to the Google-Lords

....Muse right. I highly recommend them if your into alternative OR like classical. Apparently one of their stated inspirations is Rachmaninoff.
Maybe is Maybe no.

I found them out on http://www.nhmk.com/ its not a music site per se but they dude makes some bitchin AMV.

...you don't know what an AMV is do you?
sigh

An amv is a homemade music video usually made with Anime footage. Some are awesome some are hilarious many just plain suck. If you interested go to google vid and type in AMV HELL
watch 1 and 2 and if you like them go ahead and try to download 3 ( 1 and 2 are about 5-6 min apiece, 3 is a little over an hour long)

Do it.
DO IT NOW!
The Wiki-Gods command you!

Behold the shiny dome!

2007-02-13T10:30:00.000-05:00

So on a whim yesterday i decided to shave my head. And damn does it feel weird? I haven't been completely bald since i was an infant. my head feels really light and sorta cold. I haven't been outside yet but when i do i think i'll freeze my frontal lobes off. Maybe i just won't go outside until spring (read 2 months).

in other news...

there is no other news
due to circumstances within my control today will be canceled

NEW POST: yes i'm shocked too

2007-02-11T09:09:00.000-05:00

nag nag NAG
fine ill do something
This ones for you Big D

Diablo 2
great game, if you want carpal tunnel. And enjoy constant anxiety and fear of death. which i do. I play the necromancer. safest job in the bunch. till you get to the bosses. And thats where it all goes to crap. Normaly i've got this WALL of minions between me and the owchy. but bosses in particular Diablo go and i quote "beh" ... and they all fall down. so that leaves me rather exposed to a very fast exceptionally deadly red demony man. With doom lighting that you have no resistance against! Not that i'm bitter. I named my necro Palpatine, so i felt very little guilt about "cloning" him back to life. like the cartoons says

"aren't you gonna wash your hands?"
"No.... because I'm EVIL"

Parents
My parents came up this weekend. Mostly to see snow sculptures and bug me about getting a job. I just wish i had better news for them but i don't so there it is.

(not) My House
After i spend a certain amount of time to a place i become attached. It is MY place. I don't care about who "owns" the place. I only rent but my place is MINE. So its a real kick in the teeth when your landlord tells you hes not going to let us renew our lease. I feel like swearing at the moment but i'll save your eyes and just do it out loud. So me and the peoples need to find a new place to live. hopefuily one with a non-shitty heating system.

i'm out see ya

The Thursday Fable of the Great and Powerful Rock Lobster

2006-06-22T07:41:00.000-04:00

This is the post
the post of Thursday
Thursday's post
the post which date falls between Wednesday and Friday
THAT post

SO what goes on.
Going home this weekend for the sisters open house. Should be fun. Except for the part where everyone asks how im doing in school. Hopefully they can be bought off with a shrug and a smile. Otherwise im afraid I may have to kill them with some sort of crude shiv fashioned from plastic cups. The one relief is that the one uncle most likely to give me shit is the one who spent 8 years in college. Yes to get his undergrad. That's why im calling my current plan the "Joel" method of college. Im gonna be glad to see him though. He moved to Texas a few years ago for his daughters education. shes deaf and so apparently they have a really good school there. She is also, despite my usual calusness the cutest child ever. Probably cause shes adopted. Also my uncle and aunt from Florida will be there. I haven't seen them in years, not since grandpa died. Probably about 5 years or so now...
well THAT's depressing

ROCK LOBSTER!!!

there I feel better.
you?
oh good.

So now for my usual dialog with my self about, whatelse, VIDEO GAMES!
today FABLE

fable is game where in you take upon the role of a hero and must choose between good or evil. But not so simple as clicking a the GOOD checkbox at startup. You become good or evil via your actions in game. Sound familiar? It would be if you read about and/or played the game black and white 1 and/or 2. Probably cause its from the same people, namely peter molenuex and lionhead studios. Except the strangely glaring fact that you can cast magic WHILST blocking, its a pretty good game. The whole magic while blocking thing makes the game just a tad bit easy. I can practicably just put my back to a wall and use magic to kill stuff, wait for my mana (or wil as they call it in this game) to recharge and then fire away. Other than that they do some interesting things especialy with experience points. They have 2 different types of XP general and specific. Specific XP can only be used in the category that it was obtained for. Strength, Skill or Wil. Strength is your fighter skills, your health toughness and strength. Skill is more your thiefy bowslinging skills. and Wil is your Magik. General can be used in any category. You get Specific for using that type of skill to damage the enemy (wil points come from casting lightning on people, strength points from wacking things with your weapon) you get general from killing the beasties in the form of green XP orbs. But heres the interesting part of all this, you have what is called a combat multiplier, which goes up the more you damage the enemy and goes down when you get hit. They key is that your combat multiplier as you may have guessed MULTIPLIES the XP you get. So as they say in the handbook it may be to your best advantage to wait to pick up those orbs till the end but if you get hit by the last guy to kill and he obliterates your multiplier you're hosed. So its something of a calculated risk. My first character much to my chagrin has turned into a jedi. He has the lightning skill and "force push" as they call it. Also Every once in a while when your multiplier goes up you get the ability to do a "flare" maneuver basically the a nice overhead chop. The point being that my sword glows when this happens. Lightsaber!!! So cool. That and my second character the evil one has the most awesome spell of all time. With the red pillars of fire and the floating of the enemies as they are impaled on them, its a good time.

in closing id like to leave you with this,
its helped me through some hard times

we went to the beach
everybody had matching towels
somebody when under the dock
and there they saw a rock
but it wasn't a rock
it was a rock lobster

ROCK LOBSTER!!!

Knowledge is power.

2006-06-02T20:39:00.000-04:00

Yep here it is... a post
it is officially thursday for the first time in... probably 3 months.
so what goes on you ask?
read on gentle reader...

READ ON.

Firstly while I may have not metioned it November was NOT the release date for oblivion. It was for the Xbox 360 version of the game but as I don't have one of those who really gives a damn. No me not you. Unless you own an xbox I suppose. But then you're just a worthless puppet of the Microsoft empire and don't really count anyway. So I finally got the game sometime in February whereupon I discover much to my chagrin (not surprise as this crap ALWAYS happens to me) that while the game does RUN on my computer it runs so poorly as to be unplayable. Typical of things I buy. This is why I cant have nice things. However the josh does have a compy capable of running the beast and thus I did NOT have to destroy the world with my unbridled rage. That game I must say kicks a fair bit of ass. I am however beginning to think that I agree with jim that while it does in fact rock rock on it is not as good as morrowind. Sorry folks but I said it, and therefore it is the word and the law. So I have written and so shall it be done forever and ever Amen. Mostly i think the factions are A) to easy and B) not numerious enough. In morrowind there were 10 factions not even including the main quest or the vampire houses. Oblivion has 4. While the graphics are awesome and the fast travel is a nice touch i think they tried to oversimplify the game to much.

other than that what have I been doing?

working mostly. I am employed but the maintance staff over at DHH (reads DUUUUHHH). attempting to keep myself on the green side of the line finacially speaking. What with the rent going up and the only making of minimum wage. Its a bit worrying. But then again I'm not dead so that's good. Work is pretty fun. I almost feel guilty taking their money because I slack off so much but then I remember this is the UNIVERSITY'S money. And the guilt just goes poof into a little pink puff of happy.

... yes pink
what the hells wrong with pink?
don't judge me

I think the best part of the job so far (other than the money of course) was recently we moved this conference room set. A BIG ass table and a bunch of rolly chairs. If you can already see where this story is going give yourself a gold star. Anyway for the less intuitive of you we put the table and chairs in the back of the truck, which is like a little mini-semi...

is a semi only like PART truck? Like half truck ya know like a semi circle. If not why do they call it a semi? And if it is true is a mini-semi like only a quarter of a real truck? Just a thought.

anyway so we've put the wheely-chairs in the back of the quartertruck. and so we get in and sit in them on the ride back from wads to DHH.

BEST TIME EVER

between the rolling around in the dark, the near death experiences and the possible exhaust fume high it was awesome. You heard it here folks find yourself a semi and some rolly chairs and go for a spin. If it does kill you rinse and repeat. This side tingles, this sides doesn't. Probably cause you may have just rammed into a wall and can no longer use the left side of your body. Either way still fun.

so anyway right now I'm typing this from my da's compy in downstate. Myne sister is graduating for the high school. my baby sister. I don't think I have to tell you how old that makes me feel. She's finally leaving the house and going to..(shudder) grand valley to be a... (double shudder) art student. (has seizure) where did I go wrong? My ma find it amusing that as she puts it "her children have talents that aren't very profitable." I still have to ask her what talent she thinks I have. Maybe I can juggle and never knew. I sure as hell can't remember to blog every Thursday.

also has anyone seen that ovaltine commercial? The one with the demon lady that trys to steal my soul everytime I see it? No? Well keep an eye out for it. If you see two house wives stirring some ovaltine and talking about the essential nutriments dive under your security blankie and cover your eyes. cause that's the easiest place to suck a soul out of your body.

the more you know,
cause knowledge is power
/dun dun dun DAAA

1 c43m 1 s4w 1 pwn'd

2006-03-22T22:47:00.000-05:00

“1 c43m, 1 s4w, 1 pwn3d j00 n008!”
-Julius “H4X0r” Caesar

Whom did I pwn you ask? Better to ask who DIDN’T I pwn! I mostly I pwn'd some of my computer’s major problems. Slow start ups, sticky mouse crash (that one still needs some work) and recently my cheap substitute keyboard (substitute reads been using for 5 months cause I was too lazy to dig out my REAL one) has been becoming faulty. So I actually dug out my wireless baby and plugged her into the USB. AND BY THE GODS IT WORKED! I didn’t expect it to honestly, it never has in the USB. But I’m typing with it at you RIGHT THIS INSTANT. Ok maybe now RIGHT this instance. You’re probably not in my room reading over my shoulder... ARE YOU?

/looks over shoulder

phew. That’s good only me in here. Just me... all alone...

all alone...

/begins to rock back and forth

anyway.
What else happened?
No I don’t expect YOU to know.
It was a RHETORICAL question!
Damnit stop distracting me I’m trying to blog!
What?!?
YOUR mother!
Oh? And right back at ya!
Only if you go FIRST!
Shut up

So this week saw some exciting stuff. First there was the workshop we did in Jeffers that was pretty cool. The kids were pretty good but the acoustics were crap. The sheer echo-y-ness of it made it something of a pain but once again WE PERSEVERED.

No, per-sir-veer-ed. NOT pir-ser-ve.
No there’s NO jam.
I don’t CARE if you wanted some jam. Get your own.
Sigh. NO I am NOT holding out on you.
I have NO jam.
...
NO I DON”T HAVE ANY JELLY EITHER!!!!
That’s IT!

You
Are
So
PWN’D

Who hates UNIX? ME THATS WHO!!!

2006-02-23T15:27:00.000-05:00

WARNING: words follow that may or may be grammatically, logically or morally incorrect. Such ranting is believed by the surgeon general to cause seizures, severe aixelsyd and in some cases head-explodie-ness. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

So... UNIX sucks
A lot.
SO I’m dropping it! Ahahahahahaha! take that you command line using FREAKS! That’s right I said it UNIX SUCKS! I went into the class with open arms. I said to myself “self this couldn’t POSSIBLY be as bad as everyone makes it out to be.” But guess what IT WAS WORSE!

Unfortunately unless I can talk the dean out of making it required, which ain’t gonna happen and I ain’t gonna try, I’m still gonna have to take it, probably this summer. So I’m gonna have to find a job up here. But the question is who wants to employ a lazy UNIX-hating bastard like myself? Not many methinks. My dish room job ain’t gonna cut it that’s for the sure.

What else happened recently...
Ah broomball. First time ever in my life I was on a team that makes it to the playoffs. Sort of. The last two games INCLUDING the division championship, I don’t get a chance to play. I'm not sure what to think of this. Am I THAT terrible that I can’t be put in at all? Am I not to be trusted with even the remote possibility of failure? Do I serve a more valuable function on the bench (not that we have an actual bench it’s a figure of speech)? Or is it, as I frequently hypothesize, that the entire UNIVERSE hates me? With a passion rivaled only by my own for UNIX?

Oh well that’s over now anyway. Time to do something more constructive, like THIS. I’ve made the decision, Thursday is now my therapeutic blogging day! Its in my palm pilot and everything and therefore it MUST be done. Like everything else on my palm. Like study and going to classes........ on second thought maybe I wont post EVERY week but by the Gods that fly walk and crawl I will try!
WITH THE GODS AS MY WITNESS ILL NEVER NOT BLOG AGAIN!

I will try but it seems my sometimes that my entire life is collapsing. I’m out of money, I can never get my work done in the lab. When I DO actually miss class it seems that the teacher uses that day to hand out ALL the assignments to be done soon, gives everyone a brain upgrade (I know kung-fu) and tells them all how much I suck. But then again I’m probably not doing too bad. It may be the pre-spring break paranoia talking. Almost as bad as the 3rd week second-guessing but not a patch on the week 13 blues. 13th week is always the worst; you begin to doubt that you’re in the right major or sometimes the right school. When you begin to contemplate whether or not you SHOULD have gone into the navy right after high school you know you’ve almost hit rock bottom.

Well I may not be getting A’s in my classes but at least I’m having a good time. All the doubts aside I think that I’m having the best of a rip-roarin goodtime here. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

Except for maybe a free A in all my UNIX classes.

PERPITRATE SOME POST XMAS POSTERY

2005-12-29T00:52:00.000-05:00

So i haven’t posted in a while so sue me! Things have been pretty good and hectic… ok not HECTIC but computerless for the most part. Besides I didnt have anything to post ABOUT I sure as HELL didn’t wanna talk about school and nothing else was really going on.

Now on the other hand is a different story. The Saturday after semester ended I flew out a town for sunny (sorta) san diego. After 9 hours with a nice 3 hour layover in Minneapolis. I arrive at 11:30 PST (that’s 3 hours behind US folks). The next couple day we saw sea world, and the sandiego zoo, and the sandiego wild life preserve and the sandiego parks. The zoo was the coolest what with the polar bears and all. They were having a romp around the cell when we got there it were a good time AND a nice relief from the blistering 65 degree weather. Also greatly enjoyed the penguins at seaworld, for mostly the same reasons as the bears de la polar. Also of note I had a beer… in a gay bar.

This was the day after I got there and greatly NEEDED a beer. So while ma and al were shopping me and da walk around a bit, found a bar with $3 pitchers. We ordered and while I was tring to figure out weather this bar was flamboyant cause it was a gay bar or because I was in California. Decided eventually it were the former. Not that I had a PROBLEM with that. $3 pitchers are $3 pitchers! Anyway had a good time (in general not in the gay bar) came back on the 23, spent the following day WRAPPING things. (I order everything online so not like had a chance to do it before hand) had Christmas, got stuff. NO VIDEO GAMES L but got good stuff any way. Got a book and the Muppets season 1 on dvd. Also my glasses. Mostly my glasses. Very cool in that I now own prescription sunglasses. SO HUZZA!

Other than that its mostly been hanging out, sleeping in playing civilization 4. WHICH I BOUGHT thank you very much and basically making a nuicence of my self.

FUN TIMES

The Barbarian Correspondence Course

2005-11-16T15:59:00.000-05:00

Have you ever said to yourself “man all these rules of etiquette and laws against setting fire to random villages are a real drag” If so you may want to try the age old, Barbarian tested, Mother approved "The Kahn's Barbarian Correspondence Course and University" You'll be tutored on such interesting topics as...

-Looting and pillaging 101 (loot before you burn!)
-Arctic Survival or How to look fearsome and vile while freezing your ass off
-Tribal Dances for Dummies
-Your ass and hole in the ground a compare and contrast.
-Tearing Down Great Walls (for when it's just too damn long to go around)
-the proper way to mount a severed head on the end of a pike.
-animal skins and you: The true fashion statement.
-shamanism or ancestor worship? A barbarians guide to religion
-Quaffing: Not just for Vikings anymore
and the ever popular
- Civilization? We don need no steenking Civilization!

Sign up now and receive the bonus lessons

-War cries to inspire and impress
and
-Invading France: Its not just for Germans any more

what are you waiting for? Sign up today! For just a low low price of 20 oxen, 40 casks of mead and a kitten you too can be razing a path of fiery destruction across the empire nearest you. Just listen to these amazing testimonials.

- "Me no longer laughed at by snobby people in cities. Thanks to The Kahn
they all DEAD!"

     -Throg the merciless

- "pillaging Rome used to be such a hassle. But thanks to The Kahn's guide
to elephants and their many uses it was a snap!"
     -Mr. A the Hun

-"ARRRRGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!"
     -The Civilized people of the world

Also as part of our special limited time offer sign up now and get a free
barbarians' cheat sheet autographed by the Kahn!
    -Drink and dance horde into frenzy
    -arrive via boat or on foot at intended site of slaughter.
    -KILL EVERYTHING that isn't an animal or a woman under the age of 35
    ....
What happens next? You'll just have to sign up to see!

Complete listing of courses below!

-Looting and pillaging 101: (loot before you burn!)
-Arctic Survival: or How to look fearsome and vile while freezing your ass off
-Tribal Dances for Dummies
-Your ass and hole in the ground: a compare and contrast.
-Tearing Down Great Walls: (for when it's just too damn long to go around)
-animal skins and you: The true fashion statement.
-shamanism, ancestor worship and polytheisim: A barbarians guide to religion
-Quaffing: Not just for Vikings anymore
-Civilization: We don need no steenking Civilization!
-War cries to inspire and impress
-Invading Poland: The bunny hill
-Invading France: Its not just for Germans any more
-Samurai, Fanatics and Nuclear powers: people not to fuck with
-Foreign Languages: How to offend and infuriate anywhere in the world
-face painting: showing them how you really feel
-when peasants fight back: a look at the psychology behind the average would be peasant hero and common tactics they employ
-Ignorance and Arrogance: a look into the psychology of the average inbred noble and common tactics they employ
-Tribal Hierarchies and you: your place in the bigger scheme of things.
-AP Wenching 1232: For the family orientated Barbarian
-Bilges cannons and anchors oh my!: For those getting a minor in Piracy
-A Druid’s guide to Herbs and Plants.
-Impaling: a one step guide to law enforcement
-Art appreciation: and potential resale value
-Tribute and Loot Investing: planning for retirement
-Public relations: Using fear to keep the local tribes in line
-Non-violent conflict resolution: HA HA!!!! Just kidding
-Leadership 4321: Resting control away from the current chieftain.
-How to die with honor: and within hearing distance of a skald
-Fortress Assaulting 101: basic siege techniques
-Fortress Assaulting 102: moats and how to cross them
-Fortress Assaulting 103: Catapults, Ballista and other oversized weapons of above-average destruction.
-Fortress Assaulting 104: Explosives and where to put them.
-Proper Slave Care: Someone has to do the farming
-Literature: why the pen is not mightier that the sword
-Problem Solving: Swords, Fire and Violence these are the answers
-Barbarian History: Rome wasn’t built in a day… but it was plundered in two
-Barbarian Politics 1: Walk quickly and carry a big war axe.
-Barbarian Politics 2: we don’t have any social problems a few thousand armed soldiers can’t fix
-Foreign Language 2: languages for bartering with foreign devils
-PE 101 The Broadsword: this is you broadsword! There are many like it but this one is yours!
-PE 104 The Brick: when there just isn’t anything else near by
-PE 107 Quaffing: what? We LIKE quaffing!
-PE 205 BERZERKGANG: whipping yourself into a murderous frenzy in under 5 minutes.

A non-linear rant

2005-11-11T14:14:00.000-05:00

Ok so here’s the deal.

I suck.

Yep. There, I said it. Why do I suck?

Because I only have 11.5 credits next semester. THAT’S WHY!!

Sigh.

Maybe I'm overreacting. Placing blame where none belongs…

YEAH that’s it! It’s the school of technologies fault! With there incessant need to schedule classes at 8 o’clock EVERY semester. Their tracking that is NOT transfer student friendly. And their CONSTANT SCHEDULE CONFLICTS with the school of business. For two schools that seemingly walk hand in hand they can’t communicate with each other to save their SOULS.

Ha! As if business majors had souls! It is to laugh.

But all that aside I JUST, and I do mean JUST, submitted an email to head kraut guy here at the university. Asking a man NAMED Adolphs (I shit you not) oh so politely if I may enter into a CLOSED German I class. I do NOT have high hopes. If that fails its off to my advisor and the business school to whine beg grovel and generally kick some heads in to get the classes I need/want. You’d think a fourth year would have NO problem getting what he wanted. That might have been so till the university senate approved what they’re calling the “f&*k you, Adam” plan.

/shakes head.

But enough about me and why my life suck so badly. On to some more uplifting stuff.

…

um….

OH yeah! Metamorphosis is over with and I actually have FREE TIME! Which was then rapidly consumed by all these projects I have due in up coming weeks.

…

black and white 2 is STILL awesome.

What else is good in my life.

OK that I can talk about. ON November the 21st elder scrolls IV is coming out. Now if you don’t know what this is, well I highly recommend you go out buy elder scrolls III: morrowind and quietly surrender your soul to it. Unless you’re a business major in which case it’s too late. But either way it should be on a bargain rack somewhere and is well worth the $10-15 you’ll shell out for it. It is by and large the BEST non-linear game I HAVE EVER played. And that’s saying a lot. Now a non-linear game in case you don’t understand the terminology is a game wherein there are no SET levels. MARIO is a good example of a linear game. You start at lvl 1 and move to each new lvl in succession. A NON-linear game is a game where you start and the start point and then… go. Just go. If you want to go to the town you go to the town. If you want to run around in the woods you can. This is, in my opinion (never humble), the BEST type of game out there. Because it is really only limited by YOU.

There now I feel better. Talking about video games always does that too me. Definably chilled me out after that tirade about my schedule.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATI!

Music, Muppets and Malevolence OH MY!!

2005-10-31T23:38:00.000-05:00

For this installment I’m going to be discussing three things that have a force 12 awesome rating

Cake

The Muppet show

Black and white 2

Firstly cake. Now while I'm not a HUGE fan of the “birthday bread” as I sometimes call it (reads: just made up) the BAND cake is awesome. It’s like what every ska band WANTS to be. Guitars, pianos and trumpets. With such awesome titles as “Sheep go to heaven, goats go to hell”, “comfort eagle” and a rock’n cover of the Supremes’ “I will survive” they are a top-notch band with some groovitude unmatched in modern day. With base lines that make me air guitar at inappropriate moments(i.e. the middle of class) and lyrics which may or may not get me strange looks as I sing them in places I shouldn’t (also the middle of class). I highly recommend you pick some up… by hook or by crook ya? GRIN

And while I IN NO WAY ENDORSE MUSIC PIRACY…isohunt.com and bittorent are they way to be…

So I've heard… from people… who aren’t me…

<looks completely innocent>

ANYwho…

The Muppet show. Do I really need to say more? Muppets = a good time for all. Whether its Chopin’s Polonaise in A flat as played by Dr. teeth and the electric mayhem or Peter Sellers as Queen Victoria you’ll be sure to laugh. Gonzo happens to be the coolest of the Muppets and while any other opinions may be valid they will be met with swift and irreversible retribution.
Or not.

Depending on the weather.

In other Muppet news a friend of mine recently told me they were going to be making a Muppet reality show. Like American idol… except… with Muppets…

I’m not sure whether that will be awesome or something that I may have to commit seppuku over. But we’ll see.
WE WILLL SEE!!

So in all honesty who has NEVER wanted to have REAL, ultimate power?
<looks about> No one?

That’s what I thought! That’s why black and white2 is so stylish. GODHOOD in a box baby!

While I'm ATTEMPTING to be a GOOD god at first I must admit I wears on me. And of courses there’s that little voice that wants to just DESTROY EVERYTHING with a well placed meteor spell and a volcano. but then again it can be just as satisfying to completely win over the enemy with out firing a shot. To MAKE them want to surrender. Cause they like you so much. If only my “subjects” weren’t so WHINY!
“I need sleep” they whine when they do in fact have places to sleep. “We need food” they bitch when there’s plenty of food in the field if they would just go get it. LAZY bastards. Makes a deity WANT to be evil… wouldn’t be TOO hard.

Like them man once said, “we don’t have any social problems that a few thousand troops couldn’t solve”(10,000 nerd points to who so ever can tell me what that is from)
So..
Build a few thousand troops and a few punishment spikes maybe a torture pit or three… hmmm

EVIL WILL ALWAYS TRIUMPH OVER GOOD, BECAUSE GOOD IS DUMB!
-DARK HELMET

in the beginning there was nothing...

2005-10-26T13:12:00.000-04:00

So I got a friend and she has a blog. And in the midst of me telling her how I have no need for a blog I realize that, HEY NOW WHY NOT?

So here I am typing my first post. I'm still not sure exactly what I'm supposed to do. But as my da always says if you can't dazzle them with brilliance baffle them with bullshit! I'm gonna start talking and see just where the mood takes me

so about my day... had an early start today. 5am I wake up for, as usual, no apparent reason. I fall back asleep only to be re-awoken seemingly 5 minutes later by my alarm. Plays TANK! by the by which is the intro song from cowboy bebop. Got up at 730 and went to my VB basic class for the first time since... maybe last week some time :-D

see maybe I use AIM too much. I’m beginning to use emotes in everyday speech. Does this make me a COMPLETE nerd? or only a semi-nerd? At least it aint 1337-speek. that makes me want to pillage a small village somewhere

in case you don’t know me and are reading this (for some odd reason which escapes me) I am a barbarian. check the top o the screen and it’ll tell you that THIS is a barbarian blog. I am Kahn a barbarian, a 5th century man trapped in this modern day prison. Ok don’t get me wrong I love the modern age... IM a computer geek for Krom's sake! But I like swords, and mead, and quaffing and armor and pillaging. Pillaging a small village in a long boat gives me a happy. Its all for play but I enjoy it.

Anyway where was I?..... ah VB class.
yeah I retained nothing mostly cause I was A) soooo tired and B) thinking about what bunch of FUCKUPS my department heads are. I had registration last week and ill be double-damned if they don’t track to classes in the semester that CONFLICT. I don’t know who to blame my department (which in their defense is rather new) or the school of business...

ok I've decided....
DAMN YOU SCHOOL OF BUISSNESS!!!!!
so now I'm registered... for 11.5 CREDITS!!
sigh
when does it end?

Anyway after that I went to my UNIX class... which I hate
(UNIX is for eunuch)
mostly spaced out during that
on a more positive note found out that I have no research segment of my networking lab due today so slackoffathon beginning NOW. Came home chatted with my friends one of which started talking about her blog. and while she wasn’t trying to convince me... I decided HEY NOW WHY NOT?

so I started typing.

How am I doing so far?