All the Older News that's fit to Post:
6/23/2006 Stuff for the Archives
In case you were wondering, updates to the website as a general rule inversely reflect how busy I am in my life. If I'm swamped with work, you won't see updates for a good chuck of time (see this past school year). This lets you know a bit about my current situation.
I just finished captioning some really old photos from a San Fran vacation awhile back. My goal is to have this album completely done by the end of next week.
6/20/2006 A Different Perspective
Fascinating photos from North Korea from a Russian Web Designer who got to tour the country. Many of his photos are ones which he wasn't allowed to take. It's an extremely interesting view into how communism/fascism can really devestate a populace. Almost everything I know from North Korea comes from South Park or Daily Show bits, so its neat to actually learn about the culture.
6/17/2006 Summer Quarter Begins
World Cup madness is upon us and I don't understand what all the fuss is about. I guess the huge amount of nationalism helps, but soccer as a sport is not that exciting. There's a whole lot of boredom with teams barely able to points on the board. A high scoring game is when both teams have 3 points combined ! Perhaps my attention span is too short, which is why American football is so much more appealing to me.
Viva Las Vegas 2k5! I know its a little late, but better now than never, eh?
6/10/2006 Summer Quarter Begins
What would happen if God was a DJ?
I'll be spending most of this summer up in Seattle working at the Veteran's Hospital. Fortunately, my new job means I have a bit more disposable income than before. My first large purchase . . . a new car! I really have to say that having a car means freedom. Now I can go to Northgate and other places without having to plan my day around the bus schedule. A 3 hour round trip commute to work only takes about 40 min tops now.
I'll be headed back to Hawaii from July 28th through August 6th, only a week and a few days of rest and relaxation. Afterwards, I have jury duty and then I can return to work.
1/5/2006 Happy New Year!
A fantastic Winter break has come and gone, and now the new quarter begins.
Here's an amazing video my dad sent me: A commercial for Sony. They dropped over 250000 colorful rubber balls in order to create this video.
A hilarious list of why gay marriage can't be allowed in today's society.
10 reasons Gay Marriage is wrong:
1. Being gay is not natural. And as you know Americans have always rejected unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.
2. Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.
3. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because, as you know, a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.
4. Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.
5. Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed. The sanctity of Britany Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.
6. Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.
7. Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.
8. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.
9. Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.
10. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.
12/16/2005 T minus 24 hours and counting.
I had a few movie clips from the night out with Orian, but the video was pretty much useless, so I clipped it off and added several audio clips to the album. Look for (Audio:__) type text to hear some amusing conversations.
12/15/2005 It's Wonderful being on Vacation.
Seriously, it feels great not having any commitments for a few days. I get to work more on the website, play some racquetball (I met another graduate student who's good and plays just like me, and is also fittingly named Evan), and generally relax a bit. It's fantastic.
12/14/2005 Destination: Hawaii
Autumn Quarter 2005 is officially ovah! All the finals and projects are completed and handed in, and I'll be returning to home on Saturday the 17th at about noonish. I've been looking forward to this for some time. As for the continuing saga of Orian's adventures in Seattle, an update has been posted.
Outpost Nine has some real good journal entries from a normal gamer-writer American who travels to Japan via the JET program and chronicles his experiences. Extremely entertaining writing. If you don't know what a kancho is, please visit his site and become enlightened.
Want to fight a zombie horde online? Join Urban Dead, an apocalypse set zombie fighting game.
11/20/2005 More Monotony
When I say "next update will be up shortly", I guess I was using "short" as in humans have been on the earth a short time when you use a geological time scale =p. Day two of Orian's trip is now up!
This quarter is going to be quite rough. I have 4 graduate classes (the normal load is 3), a part time job, I'm volunteering at the local Veteran's Affairs hospital so I'll get a Research position for next quarter, and I'm competing on the UW Squash team. Sometimes when my classmates complain about their 3 course load, its hard to restrain the internal Hulk rage that boils forth.
11/8/2005 They want you in the Navy!: A Trip to Annapolis
Thursday through Sunday, I will be in Annapolis, Maryland playing squash for the UW team. Washington DC is about 30 miles away, and I'll visit Orian while I'm there.
A lot of scary infringements on our civil rights have been occurring lately. We got abuse of the Patriot Act (video) on one hand, and Rove's data mining of political opponents on the other. Watch out for Big Brother.
11/4/2005 Happy Birthday to Me!
Hard to believe, but I've just turned 22! To celebrate, I've posted a fun video (50 MB) sent to me by Gavin.
10/18/2005 Good Times
The first of set of photos documenting Orian's stay have just been posted, fresh out of the oven! A second batch will be ready shortly.
I have a new server address at http://www.furiousbabar.com . Furiousbabar is an alias that I've used in many a videogame, and is conveniently is also an available .com domain name.
Some of you all were wondering what the URL for that interesting political humor site is: http://www.onegoodmove.org/1gm/ . It features the cream of the crop from The Daily Show, The Cobert Report, and other general political humor.
10/6/2005 Hail to the SCOS
As I frantically scramble to finish HW before the weekend, I was struck by the odd vision of Orian sleeping in my house, pimply disfigured arms in plain sight. And then I realized that my vision/nightmare is coming true tomorrow. Whenever I'm typically around him, typically he's wearing dress clothes which fortunately cover most of his skin. I hope during his stay here no additional skin is revealed. =p
On a much lighter note, Wes, the Party Guy, and Nick, Giver of Gifts, are
also scheduled to make an appearance this weekend. Pictures and Movies to
follow after the break.
10/4/2005 The Beginning of a New Era
A new look to the website is also heralded by a much anticipated update consisting of photos of my new residence with some very brief comments. I'm currently back at UW pursuing a Masters in Mechanical Engineering. I'm going to go for a thesis in either Biomechanics (design of prosthetic devices) or Dynamics (study of vibrations). Longtime friend and SCOS Orian Lee will be visiting me over the weekend. Nick and Wes will also hook up with us for some good times. All in all, the future is looking bright.
PS: Free Music from Harvey Danger, an awesome Seattle Band, here!
