Today I didn't really do much. I woke up, had some breakfast, read the paper and looked through all the ads in the paper. Then while my parents were taking my brother back to camp (he's a counsiler over the summer) I stayed at home and cleaned my room and did laundry. The rest of the day I programmed.

I'm really starting to get into to it again. I installed the DirectX 9.0b SDK for managed code a few weeks ago and that is really cool. Basically its a bunch of code that lets you write video games for your computer. But the cool part is that with this version I can write them in C# instead of C++. C++ is cool, but I like C# better. So all in all a good thing. I'm trying to build a rudamentary 3D framework, small engine if you will. With which I will then make some games with. On my list right now are Tetris and Breakout. Tetris first because its just that much fun to play! 3-D Tetris though. Camera rotating around the playing area when pieces are falling! It should be cool. I'll post the game up here whenever I finish it. Don't know when it'll be done maybe in a few weeks to a month who knows. What with school and all and other stuff going on. But its my new hobby right now. Picked it up again.

I'm just in a really good mood. Had a really good past few days. I'm just happy.
*smiles*
Later. *mmwwwwahh*

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Well, I haven't updated in a while. ... Actually I did update, but then Nutang mysterious deleted the entry. Weird.. But it did happen to everyone else so, oh well. The only thing I really said in that lost entry was that I pre-ordered Doom 3. Well actually that Twyla preordered it, but that's a long story. Anyway.

So I did preorder Doom 3 and in preparation I guess you'd say I added some RAM to my computer. There was a sale at Best Buy so I added in a 512 MB stick of RAM bringing my total up to 1.0 GB. So my end configuration will be a 3.0 GHz P4 with 1 GB of PC3200 RAM and an 128 MB ATI FireGL X1 graphics card. Not too bad, I know it's no where good enough to run Doom 3 will all or even most of the highest graphics detail, but it should be enough to give me a decent playing experience. Which is what I'm looking forward to. That and being scared shitless walking down an abonded corridor with only a pistol to defend myself against the demons of hell...
Oooo yeeaaahhh....

Later. *gives you a kiss every hour on the hour* *smile*

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He's alive!! Yes, dispite the rumors I am still alive. I know.. I can hear the groans from here. But it is true. The reason is wasn't online lately is:

Monday: Got back from UVA, hadn't put my computer back together yet
Tuesday: Forgot to plug the phone cord in my parent's room in so I could go online, not wanting to wake them up, I couldn't connect that night.
Wednesday: Same problem as Tuesday ``
Thursday: I just forgot to blog

I know what you're thinking. Why didn't you connect the phone cord between Tuesday night and Wednesday night so you could get online? I forgot? Lol. But I'm here now and that's what matters.

Circuit City Dealio, Yo

I needed to backup my computer and with all the stuff I've got on it, plus the 17 gigs of music I have, backing up my hard drive to CDs was out of the question. (It would have takend around 32 CD-Rs!) So DVDs were the answer. And as my computer has a DVD writer drive, that made things even easier. `` Only problem was I had no DVD+/-R discs (I'll get more to that in a minute) and I didn't even know which kind my DVD writer could write. The second issue was solved by writing UVA (who I got the computer from) and asking what model DVD drive I got with my model of computer. They said it was a DVD+R, but that I should look at the actual drive and the device manager to make sure. What a novel idea. For some unknown reason both of these two methods had slipped my mind. I go to the device manager and it reads "DVD+R" then I get down on hands and knees to peer at the actual drive itself and lo and behold in tiny raised letterings on the drive itself "DVD+R". Who knew? So anyway I now knew I needed +R discs, but where to get them? And at what price? Now ensues the drama.

So I look online and find the average price for 25 DVD+R discs to be around $30 or so give or take a little bit. Well I get home from school and find a Circuit City flyer from the previous Sunday. In it is a deal for a 25 pack of DVD discs for $19.99. Not too shabby. So I go to Circuit City on Thursday night, 5 mintues before closing, to pick these babies up. Well the spot where they are in empty. Well.. let me back up. I came in the store and looked for them. Couldn't find them. So I went up to the guy there and was like "Do you know where to find these?" *pointed to the DVDs* Of course *I* knew where to find them, but half of it was wanted to see this guy *try* to find them. And the other half was when he couldn't find them coax him into giving me a discount or raincheck or something. Well It didn't work. He took my flyer and searched, found the place where they were supposed to be, pointed out to me they were all gone, and he was like "Guess you should have come earlier. Huh? Hehe." Yeah... very funny @#%*&#. Anyway I get to my car, upset. And then I realize something.. That guy still has my flyer! I gave it to him to find the DVDs and he didn't give it back! So I go back to the store to get another one and they had just locked up. Great.. No DVDs no flyer even.

So I go back to my car and I'm upset I didn't get my DVDs and annoyed the guy took my flyer. Well, I turn on the car and the radio and guess what song should be playing. The Rolling Stones - "You Can't Always Get What You Want" I laughed.

Well today I go to Circuit City again today to check if they got more in or something. No such luck. However, I noticed something. The DVDs that were gone had a tag underneath them "25 DVD-R $19.99" and the ones right next to it said "25 DVD+R $29.99". Both tags showed the same brand and everything. Just the price and the +/- thing were different. So I went to the front of the store and took a flyer (since the guy stole my other one, grrrr ``) and checked it. The add was for that brand. And the picture shown was actually the +R version. So I called a guy over and explained the situation. He looked at the flyer and at the DVDs and at the tags and after a few minutes called his manager over. The manager looked it all over and was like "Hmmm...". That's all he ever said, lol. The other guy said "I could just ring up these other ones for that same sale price?" The manager never looks up. He just nods his head and says "Hm....." and walks away. Hehe. I think he was confused. Anyway, so I got my DVD+Rs at the sale price, yay!

Hmm.. Reading the above story to myself I realized that I've just made this small one day escapade out to be this once in a life time experience and that I'm just so generous to be sharing this momentous occasion with you. It really wasn't all that exciting. But that's what blogs are for. Taking small obscure insignificant chunks of reality and blowing them up to be interesting and thought provoking pieces of writing that others can enjoy and just perhaps, with a bit of luck, learn something and change their lives.. forever.. *wipes away tear* *sniffle* ``
glad you're having a good time at Tech *smiles*
Later. *gives you a kiss*

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And now comes the final entry of Summer Session 2004. Calculus is done. Yes, I repeat, done! Finished the final exam this morning. 10 problems, 2 and a half hours. I finished in about 2 hours. I didn't think it was too terribily difficult. He definitely could have made it harder, but I think he went a little easy on us considering we did get a whole semester's worth of stuff in only four weeks. He makes his tests very intimidating. There were ten problems on the exam and 11 pages. (10 for the problems, and 1 for the cover page) One problem per page. He's got the problem written at the top and then the rest of the page is blank. This gives you a lot of space to do your work in, but to read a problem and then see a full empty blank sheet in front of you.. Can be intimidating, especially if you're not sure how to do the problem. But all in all I think I did ok. So there's -1 month but +4 credits... I wonder if that equation balances..

So if anyone has any late night quandaries about the fine details about line integrals or how much flux your surface will make in his vector field, don't hesitate to ask. ``

I think its kind of cool that 4 weeks ago I would have looked at that test and been absolutely clueless on every single problem. But today I was able to do them all. ..That's just kind of cool to me.

So.. I've got all my stuff packed except for my computer. Dad is coming in about an hour, so I get to be home tonight for dinner. I'll catch all you cool cats on the flip side. Always wanted to say that. ``

Later. *mmmwwaaaahhhhh*

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This is a real, and I repeat *REAL* call I got today while working at the help desk. Names have been removed to protect the identities of the guilty.

Her: I can't connect to my remote server.
Me: Can you tell me the error you get?
Her: "Unable to connect with server."
Me: Hmm...
Her: Oh, also when I open Outlook to check my email I get an error too.
Me: What's that one say?
Her: "Remote mail server contact not established."
Me: Ok... Can you connect to the Internet?
Her: Yeah
Me: Are you sure?
Her: Yeah, see I'll go to it right now. I open Internet Explorer and ....
Me: What happened?
Her: It says it can't to the website's server.
Me: Are you connected to the UVA network?
Her: Of course I am.
Me: Let's check that, can you open up network options and tell me what you see.
Her: I don't see anything, the screen is blank
Me: Really? You don't see anything that says "Local Area Connection" or anything?
Her: No, nothing.
Me: Nothing that says "Ethernet" or "Networking" or anything like that?
Her: No... nothing like that in this window.
Me: .....
Her: Oh, Ethernet!
Me: You see something that says Ethernet on the screen?
Her: No not on the screen, on my desk. There's a box on my desk that says "Intel Ethernet Adapter Card". See, this is a new computer and this card was delivered to me today for installation. I didn't know what to do with it so I kept it in the box and tried to check my email anyway. When that didn't work I called you.
Me: .....
Her: So.. could that be the reason my email doesn't work?

Later. *smiles and shakes my head* *kiss*

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I didn't write an entry on the 4th of July, so I figure a Happy 7th of July entry will have to do. Had a very nice weekend at home away from school. Had a cool cookout on the 3rd at my house. And on Sunday, I went with Twyla and Jessica to see fireworks at Fort Lee. They were sooo cool! I forgot how much a like fireworks. `` Then on Monday I got back to school, moved back in, had lunch at Taco Bell, and a few other things. *smile*

Got my second midterm back today from calculus class. I got a B+ on it so I'm happy. Not the highest grade in the class but its ok. Realized that this is the first non-A I've gotten on a test at UVA. *sigh* Oh well.

And today, *phew* right when I got to work at 1:00 pm. All the people in the office (8 of them) left, leaving just me and one other girl as the only people here. I was answering the phone non-stop for about 2 and a half hours before they came back. Call after call after call... I'd put the reciever down and it would inevitably ring immediately afterwards. Helped like 20 some people I think. Goodness gracious.

And I learned two things yesterday. One, how to use redial on my cell phone. And two, there are chipmunks that live in the tree outside my window!

Later. *gives you a kiss*

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