Month: September 2004

Well, folks, it’s over. Last night was Coronation here at Dakota State. Some of you may be aware that Megan was in the running for it. She was one out of the five girls standing up there on stage, and she was the tallest. I chalk it up to her 24″ heels.

Her mother and Aunt Teresa came up for the event. It had actually worked out perfectly for her aunt, as she had to be in Sioux Falls on business. Otherwise, she’s from Des Moines. Unfortunately, Megan did not make it to Queen. I had really thought she would. Instead the winner was underdog, Milbank graduate Kelly Torchia. I gave Megan flowers. There were 4 peach flowers and a deep, red rose in the middle. Do you get the hidden meaning? There was also a little card attached with a touching message.

The way they did Coronation was kinda stupid. They had it in the Marketplace and they had it as the “breather” for the Date Auction. That’s right, before Coronation and after Coronation was the purchasing and selling of human beings in the name of “putting the ‘fun’ in ‘fundraising'”. It’s a travesty. The pure, traditional, lauded Homecoming King and Queen smashed inbetween parent-friendly prostitution. I’m sure it was for the benefit of the crowd. Either Coronation benefited from the auction or the other way around. It’s like selling porn at the Louvre to get people to see the Mona Lisa.

I have a new favourite band. They are called The Unicorns. I just bought their CD. They are from canada. I found these guys on Bit Torrent and thought that their name was unique enough to warrant downloading. It led to an obsession. Who says that file sharing is all bad? It’s increased my CD purchasing.

I suggest, if you get a chance, to check out The Unicorns. They have a fine official site with an area to download a 2003 Concert in Montreal. That’s pronounced “mawnt – reel” by the native French. Try not to sound as American as you obviously are.

A butterfly doesn’t have to be caught. She’s even more beautiful when she’s free.

I’ve been quite pleased with my songwriting as of late. It seems to be going well lyrically, musically, and funkadelically. I’m quite pleased with my software engineering project, as well. It’s not functional yet, but I’ve learned a lot, that’s for sure. I have worries that I may not get it done by my set due date. But, then again, what software EVER gets done on time? Not mine!

I tried Linspire operating system and dismissed it. It was nice enough, but if you wanted any sort of software, you had to pay ANOTHER $45. In the words of John Larson, “Michael Robertson is freakin’ insane.” I think that’s a direct quote. I’m trying to use Mandrake 9.0, but so far it doesn’t see my mouse. I’m going to keep trying, though. God save me if I have to go back to logitech, though…

This weekend I also did some canvassing for my father. Have you ever heard of White? Well, if you haven’t, you’re not alone. My mother, father, sister Brenna and I, along with two older couples, cavassed the entire city. This involved handing my dad some brochures to hand out. Most of the city was gone – out duck hunting, I suppose. But there was one couple who was out. And we talked to them. For an hour.

I am not kidding.

I stood there and smiled and nodded and tried to look interested in politics for a goddamn hour, and I’m not sure how well I pulled it off. I am much more in the mood to act on a stage. We did get a lot handed out, though, and I got to take home some fair of my own, including a TShirt and a bumper sticker / magnet. Who says politics isn’t fun? We also got to take some Daschle flyers out of doors where people weren’t home. It is my dad’s belief that “they don’t need those lies.”

My father: fighting for honesty in politics by stealing.

Hey Kids. How’s it going? I know it’s been a long time, but I’ve been tres, tres, tres busy. I know, Bryce, I led you to believe that I really had nothing new, but when I thought about it, a lot is new. I hope you don’t feel “jewed”, but my battery was dying and the phone was burning my face.

There is a lot new, though. My room is pretty much moved in. I know that I’ve been moved in, but, until tonight, I never felt like I could totally feel at home. I do right now. I got a huge pile of papers sorted off of my floor and many of them thrown away. And I feel good.

I’ve also been ripping and burning like crazy. I’ve ripped every CD I own (and I may move on to Jeff’s). Then I started burning VCDs. I’ve managed to find a converter. It doesn’t do so well with the audio, though. It gets off sync pretty quicklike, and sometimes it catches up. The way I figure it, these aren’t permanent. They either won’t be relevant in a couple years or I’ll own the DVDs.

I’ve been reading The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum. It appears to be nothing like the movie. I’m actually quite confused on when, or if, the book and movie will reconcile. There has to be some sort of answer for me. I had read online that the movie was a great adaptation of the book, but I don’t see how that is possible.

I’ve been sketching, too. I love black ink, just wet enough to be messy, but not wet enough to be incoherent. My PeopleSoft pen is perfect. PERFECT. I’m still not good at sketching, but if I draw enough lines in a certain area, it appears as though I’ve drawn something well. If only I could make a career out of that.

There was a LAN party Saturday, and I partook of the festivities. My brother came up, and we had a good time. As Bryce pointed out, the amount of time spent getting a game to work versus the amount of time actually playing the game was about 25:75. This is a lot better than what it has been, which was more like 50:50. Or, as in Dan’s case, 100:0.

It’s been raining here like crazy. It’s like I stepped into Europe, except I still have this crappy foreign policy all over my shirt. Oh, well. It’s nice to have rain. I pretend to hate it, for the kids y’know, but I love it. I love sleeping with the rain-mist floating over my naked supple body. I mean – full body fur suit.

Megan’s good. Thanks for asking.

Haji’s doing okay. She seems sick. I’m hoping it’s just cause she hasn’t eaten in a while. If she dies, I’ll never forgive myself. Or Megan. Or God.

I got my new 17″ LCD monitor. You can adjust height, swivel, tilt, and orientation. It also comes with pen-holders that mount, adjustably, to the side of the frame. AND it has two picture/document holders that you can also mount or mount instead of. I love it, and I have so much more space now. Does anyone want to buy a ViewSonic Perfect Flat CRT monitor. It’s …39″… sideways. And it’s a PF999… 9. Okay. I don’t know the specs, lay off, alright?!

Other than that, the only other big thing on my list is that I’m directing a play. This will probably be my only theatrical involvement this year, as I’m quite busy with other things. The play is called “Downtown”. It’s written by Jeffrey Hatcher, who I’ve found in numerous spots on the internet. He actually has a movie coming out called “Stage Beauty”, starring Claire Danes and some guy.

The play features three people, Brett, J, and Saskia, as they sit around a booth table at a diner. They are all writers, and boy do they know it. There is no blocking – they just sit there. It is all dialogue – talking about everyone who walks into the diner. Below is an excerpt.

HAHAHAHAH!!!! And it only gets funnier. My only problem is that I don’t think much of the audience is going to understand it. So, the problem is, do I cater to the lowest common denomenator and stress ROFL places, or do I maintain artistic integrity and make assumptions on the audience’s intelligence? I guess you’ll have to come and see for yourself. As we get closer to show time, I’ll put up a time/day/location for this wonderful artistic car wreck.

The characters are arrogant. We come to learn that the reality of their artistic situation is that they are hacks. The equivalent of nosey old maids who do nothing but talk down to those who are out of the circle and talk back to those who are in the inner circle. They “kiss-kiss” those they berate in such an overly-tangible back stabbing that it’s hard to imagine why anyone acknowledges them at all.

It took me three tries to get that “a” word correct.

Alright, you know what? I keep getting interrupted in these posts. I have too many started and I’m sick of just staring at that Get Fuzzy comic. I’ll end this by saying, “Listen to ‘The Unicorns’. They rock. They’re from Canada.”

Please go read the Get Fuzzy for today. If you’re too lazy to click the “Get Fuzzy” comics link, then I’ll bring it to you.

I almost had part II of that sucky music post done, then when trying to watch the trailor for The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, my browser crashed and I hadn’t saved my handiwork.

Depression set in. Vodka found its way to my belly.

I woke up today – three days later – to find one of the funniest Get Fuzzy Comics I’ve seen in a while.

Tablet users… I realize this letter is a little long, but please read through it because there are some very important points you need to know. Non-tablet users may want to read through this also just in case.

Having a computer is a great thing. It can be exciting and it can be frustrating, but life with a computer is never boring. Owning your own computer can be one of the first great achievements of your adult life. We applaud those of you who are embracing your tablets and are ready to live a digital lifestyle.

However, you do not own your M275 – you are sharing it, in a sense – so we do have a few rules that we need to enforce on campus to ensure a stable environment that is conducive to academic activities. Please keep in mind that the M275 tablets given to you are property of Dakota State University and the State of South Dakota. DSU has to abide by state, federal, and local laws pertaining to dissemination of information and copyright infringement, among others.

Please read through the Rules of the Road below with an open mind and understand that we are not trying to oppress you or frustrate you; we are merely trying to keep the environment stable for students to be able to do their work effectively and efficiently. These practices are meant to reduce unnecessary network traffic, streamline the Help Desk process for those of you with repairs, and keep our network infrastructure secure and stable. We are not saying that you have to be a clone and not make any changes to your tablet, and we are not telling you that you can’t have fun with it. We are however asking you to be intelligent, responsible adults and to understand that the actions that you take can have consequences for you and for others.

1. Dakota State University is not an Internet Service Provider (ISP). We provide internet on campus for academic activities only. Internet on campus is not for downloading music and movies or for things like chatting and instant messengers. We allow some of this activity as long as it does not get out of hand or start to destabilize the network or unduly slow it down, but we do not guarantee services of those types. Our only goal in providing internet is to provide you with a stable environment from which to finish your homework, do academic research, or check your campus mail for academic related materials. Maintaining academic activities is our highest priority and activities that impede this process will be dealt with.

2. In light of the fact that your tablet is the property of and is maintained by the State of South Dakota, please keep in mind that viewing and storing pornography on it is not a good idea. What you do in the privacy of your own home is not our concern and we have no wish to censor you, but using State resources like our internet connection (which can be and is monitored by the State of South Dakota) to download or look at porn or to use Sate equipment like your M275 tablet to store it and view it is not something we want to explain to the taxpayers who contribute their hard earned tax dollars to the State, or even to the Dakota State Alumni who contributed to many of your scholarship funds and whose money also helps to operate and maintain this school, or to your parents whom for many of you are also contributing funding for your stay here at DSU.

3. Your tablet is for academic purposes only. This does not mean you cannot install games and other programs, but if you do install games or non-academic programs on your computer and it were to cause problems with your computer, your case would be assigned a lower priority at the Help Desk than users with legitimate problems. In order to verify that these software packages are not contributing to the problem with your tablet if you bring it in for repair, we reserve the right to ask you to remove instant messenger clients, games, and other software prior to troubleshooting.

4. Do not make any major changes to your tablet. They are set up for your classes at DSU and if you make any major changes to your system it will no longer match your peer’s tablets, you may not be able to follow along properly in class or study with your peers, and you may not have the proper software and\or settings for your classes any longer. Think of it this way… if you reformat your computer or delete a bunch of programs and come looking for help, then your case may be assigned a lower priority and there could be a delay in returning your tablet to you. We may also reserve the right to ask you to back up any data you need from your tablet and we will reset your hard drive to the way it was the day we distributed it to you.

Not changing the tablet significantly also means not changing or deleting the administrator account that we use for troubleshooting your computer. If you don’t know how to do that then just ignore this, but if you do please stay out of the management setting unless you are legitimately trying to troubleshoot your own computer and you know what you are doing.

5. Do not install or execute any software that is designed to help you download files like movies or music from the internet. This pertains not only to your tablet, but also to any computer plugged into the campus network.

Many, if not most, of these programs allow you to download files that illegally infringe copyrights. This is unethical and unacceptable and we can track your activity and take disciplinary action and\or report you to local and federal authorities. These programs are sometimes called P2P, or peer-to-peer programs. Programs in this category would be programs like Kazaa, Limewire, eDonkey, Morpheus, BearShare, Blubster, etc. You cannot install these programs on your M275 tablet and you cannot run them on the DSU network.

In addition, most of these programs are filled with spyware and malware which track your activities unbeknownst to you, harm your computer, make it slower, and cause you to come and see Computing Services to get them fixed. Unfortunately, we cannot spend countless hours eradicating spyware and malware from your computers so if we find that you are infested with viruses, spyware, or malware we will instruct you to back up any data you need and we will reset your hard drive to the way it was the day we distributed it to you.

Also many of these programs will cause issues with certain software that you need for classes. For instance, many campuses have found that WebCT is often broken by installing Kazaa on your computer. On some computers Kazaa has even been know to break the wireless configuration.

6. You must not disable or remove the Symantec Antivirus software from your tablet. The Symantec Antivirus 9.0 that is installed on the tablets is the newest version from Symantec\Norton. It is updated almost every day while you are on campus, managed by our network administration staff, never expires, and is more stable, robust, and speedier than consumer anti-virus products. For standardization and for security we require that all DSU owned computers have Symantec 9.0 installed in managed mode so that we can administer updates to them regularly. There is no exception to this and if we find that you have removed or disabled it we will require you to come in and have it restored.

7. Do not install a software firewall like Zone Alarm on your tablet and do not enable the Windows Firewall. Please visit this website and scroll down to Step # 2 to help you disable the Windows Firewall if you are not sure if you have it running. http://support.dsu.edu/tutorials/intel.html A software firewall will cause your system to loose its ability to function properly on our network and it will interfere with software that is necessary for some classes.

Thank you for your patience and understanding and thank you for your commitment to a stable and efficient computing and network infrastructure at Dakota State.

Computing Services Staff

I’m getting sick of these little posts, so I combined the last two with this new one to make a slighly meatier post.

I’m working on some better posts, funny ones, coming up soon. Part II for that music one, of course. And perhaps some more math-themed posts in the future.

Also, my mother noticed that my status says “Single” instead of “Taken (kinda)” like it used to. She mentions this to my brother who calls me while I’m at Megan’s. I can assure you that I mainly did it to see how long it was before anyone noticed. Of course, it had to be my mother.

Seriously, though, please keep Megan in your prayers. She’s going through a very tough, stressful time in her life. She needs guidance from God to help her, and me, through this. I don’t feel awkward telling you, my faithful readers, that Megan is very special to me, and I don’t think a long future is out of the question. I love her dearly, and she needs our support.

Also – I had an business class and dropped it for a computer science class. I have a feeling I would hate business. Well, I have a feeling I would have hated that class at least. Any class that starts with the teacher asking you what you wanted to be in 3rd grade is a warning. This is college. No one gives a damn what you wanted to be when you grew up. They want your money and, in exchange, will grudgingly give you knowledge that should be free.

You have to stick it to the man when you can.

Oh, and I’m learning how to create Winamp skins.

Classes Started

Well, today is the first day of school for this year. Guess how many classes I have today. Zero. none.

Zilch.

(eat that suckahs)

Sad News

If you are praying folks, then pray for my little sister, Brenna, and Megan’s grandmother, Frances. Both are in the hospital.

There was more that I was going to write, but I don’t feel like it – I have to make out a schedule.