Yes, it's 1am and I have to be at work in the morning. Why? I was tired today and I planned to go to bed by about 10. I need the sleep. So what's the problem? I think a dash of Tobinitis. Truth be told, I watched 2 episodes of the west wing and really didn't want to stop. But I did! Yes, then I went to the computer to play a quick game of chess before going to bed. Several hours later, here I am.
Stupid, stupid, stupid!
The way cannot be shown, only experienced. When it happens to you, you'll know it. I'm still waiting!
Ed.
Friday, July 14, 2006
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
The blinding light
Believe it or not I'm still listening to Jonathan Coulton. I enjoy the music and some of the lyrics. Though I'll admit that I wish the lyrics were a little more "mainstream". I think, at least for me, the songs would have a longer shelf-life that way. Aside from that, I'm still loving "The Riddle" by Five for Fighting. I know, you care. Thanks!
Lately my life's been fairly routine. Probably a little too routine. It consists of work, school, oblivion, and the west wing. I'm enjoying it - all of it - but it will definitely be nice to have the summer classes finished. I really didn't expect Linear Algebra to be as time consuming as it is. It's partly my fault, I'm determined to get an A. Especially after getting an 85 on the first test. I was disappointed, since I had been spending several hours a day on it. Since then I've taken 2 more tests and scored 100 on them both. So I'm back on track.
I have to go to school for my other class tomorrow, so we'll see how far behind I am on that one. That's my next goal - catch up with that. If only I could pull myself away from Oblivion on the weekend I'd be all set.
Gayle asked me the other day why I hadn't written anything in a while. She was referring to poetry. I like to think of it as music that only I can understand. Nothing personal, I'm more than happy to share the words. But the song, the music, the pictures - only I can see. I think it's better that way!
I saw a quote that I enjoyed the other day:
"An unsophisticated forecaster uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts, for support rather than for illumination".
I'll have to think on that one.
Until next time, Ed.
Lately my life's been fairly routine. Probably a little too routine. It consists of work, school, oblivion, and the west wing. I'm enjoying it - all of it - but it will definitely be nice to have the summer classes finished. I really didn't expect Linear Algebra to be as time consuming as it is. It's partly my fault, I'm determined to get an A. Especially after getting an 85 on the first test. I was disappointed, since I had been spending several hours a day on it. Since then I've taken 2 more tests and scored 100 on them both. So I'm back on track.
I have to go to school for my other class tomorrow, so we'll see how far behind I am on that one. That's my next goal - catch up with that. If only I could pull myself away from Oblivion on the weekend I'd be all set.
Gayle asked me the other day why I hadn't written anything in a while. She was referring to poetry. I like to think of it as music that only I can understand. Nothing personal, I'm more than happy to share the words. But the song, the music, the pictures - only I can see. I think it's better that way!
I saw a quote that I enjoyed the other day:
"An unsophisticated forecaster uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts, for support rather than for illumination".
I'll have to think on that one.
Until next time, Ed.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Happy 4th of July
As another day quickly comes to an end, I hope you all had a good one. Happy 4th of July! It's been an interesting few days for me. This weekend I had planned on taking my Linear Algebra test and doing some work for my other class. As you may have noticed, at least from Saturday, I didn't do that. Oblivion! Will I ever get sick of it? I don't know, but I'm sure it won't be anytime soon.
I do need to get to bed. Work will be here before you know it. Today, to celebrate the holiday, I ate too much. It wasn't actually part of the plan, but you know how my plans go. It actually would have been a fine day if I didn't go to McDonalds for lunch. Always a mistake. Without even thinking that you're eating "too" much, 2000 calories pass by!!! Ouch. It's in the spreadsheet, though I'm not happy about it.
Again, I mostly played Oblivion. I am now the Grand Champion of the Arena, though I'll admit I'm a bit of a wussy. I noticed on some of the message boards that people have found some parts of the arena that you can jump on if you have a high enough acrobatics skill. I do. So I jumped out of range and kept summoning zombies to do my dirty work for me. Not much honor, but life isn't fair - why should Oblivion be! ;)
Oh yes, I finally took my Chapter 2 test for Linear Algebra tonight. I was pretty nervous. The first chapter I really spent a lot of time on and wanted to do well on the test. I only managed an 85, with the class average being around 86.5. So that was a bit of a letdown. This time I continued my trend of spending a lot of time, but added some last minute review before taking the test. It went well.
To finish off the day I watched "Find Me Guilty" with Vin Diesel. It's based on a true story about what they are calling "the most remarkable criminal trial in US history.". With comparisons to My Cousin Vinny, and with a brief role for Annabella Sciorra, I had certain expectations. It wasn't a bad movie, but it was no "My Cousin Vinny". And Vin Diesel... with hair... and putting on a few pounds for the role. I guess at least he was trying something different - and he did a pretty good job.
I've still got to make my plans to see "Superman Returns" this week. It's one of those I just have to see on the big screen.
Good night!
Ed.
I do need to get to bed. Work will be here before you know it. Today, to celebrate the holiday, I ate too much. It wasn't actually part of the plan, but you know how my plans go. It actually would have been a fine day if I didn't go to McDonalds for lunch. Always a mistake. Without even thinking that you're eating "too" much, 2000 calories pass by!!! Ouch. It's in the spreadsheet, though I'm not happy about it.
Again, I mostly played Oblivion. I am now the Grand Champion of the Arena, though I'll admit I'm a bit of a wussy. I noticed on some of the message boards that people have found some parts of the arena that you can jump on if you have a high enough acrobatics skill. I do. So I jumped out of range and kept summoning zombies to do my dirty work for me. Not much honor, but life isn't fair - why should Oblivion be! ;)
Oh yes, I finally took my Chapter 2 test for Linear Algebra tonight. I was pretty nervous. The first chapter I really spent a lot of time on and wanted to do well on the test. I only managed an 85, with the class average being around 86.5. So that was a bit of a letdown. This time I continued my trend of spending a lot of time, but added some last minute review before taking the test. It went well.
To finish off the day I watched "Find Me Guilty" with Vin Diesel. It's based on a true story about what they are calling "the most remarkable criminal trial in US history.". With comparisons to My Cousin Vinny, and with a brief role for Annabella Sciorra, I had certain expectations. It wasn't a bad movie, but it was no "My Cousin Vinny". And Vin Diesel... with hair... and putting on a few pounds for the role. I guess at least he was trying something different - and he did a pretty good job.
I've still got to make my plans to see "Superman Returns" this week. It's one of those I just have to see on the big screen.
Good night!
Ed.
Sunday, July 02, 2006
The game of the week
I almost forgot, but I had a chess game scheduled at 9am this morning. It was on the ICC. Before the game I looked at how the team was doing, and realized that I had to win. We have 4-man teams and two of my teammates lost their games. Well, technically, one of them forfeit for not showing up. So I knew that if I didn't win we didn't have a chance at drawing the round.
With that information in hand, I knew I couldn't play my normal game. Not that my normal game is bad, but it can be "careful". As it turned out, I played one of my best games of the year! Seriously, I really felt great playing it. I also won in convincing fashion. Not bad for playing aggressive when you're not generally an aggressive player. Here was my favorite position from the game. White to move, can you guess what I played?
If you guessed Qxd5 you've got the talent. That's what I played and went on to win.
I watched Failure to Launch tonight with my Mother and Sister. It was a pretty good movie. So if you haven't seen it, I can certainly recommend checking it out. It doesn't make it into my hall of fame, but it was good.
And to end my night I was just playing a few games of blitz on the ICC. My last game I had a winning endgame against my opponent when I lost on time. I was pretty pissed. I happened to be leaning back on my chair at the time, and without taking a moment to let it down I found myself shaking my fists. Then I found my chair falling towards the floor, with me in it. Ouch! When I got off the floor and picked my chair up, I noticed that it was a draw. My opponent didn't have any pieces left but his king so he didn't have any winning chances.
So there you have it. A day in the life.
Ed.
With that information in hand, I knew I couldn't play my normal game. Not that my normal game is bad, but it can be "careful". As it turned out, I played one of my best games of the year! Seriously, I really felt great playing it. I also won in convincing fashion. Not bad for playing aggressive when you're not generally an aggressive player. Here was my favorite position from the game. White to move, can you guess what I played?
If you guessed Qxd5 you've got the talent. That's what I played and went on to win.
I watched Failure to Launch tonight with my Mother and Sister. It was a pretty good movie. So if you haven't seen it, I can certainly recommend checking it out. It doesn't make it into my hall of fame, but it was good.
And to end my night I was just playing a few games of blitz on the ICC. My last game I had a winning endgame against my opponent when I lost on time. I was pretty pissed. I happened to be leaning back on my chair at the time, and without taking a moment to let it down I found myself shaking my fists. Then I found my chair falling towards the floor, with me in it. Ouch! When I got off the floor and picked my chair up, I noticed that it was a draw. My opponent didn't have any pieces left but his king so he didn't have any winning chances.
So there you have it. A day in the life.
Ed.
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Not like I would have played it
I can't seem to get the song "Millionaire Girlfriend" out of my head lately. I don't know why - it's not like I've got that problem. So Friday I spent most of the night working on my homework for Linear Algebra. I got home a little after 9pm and decided to spend some time playing Oblivion. How did it go? I played until 1AM, then I was up at 9AM playing again until about 7PM tonight (Saturday). It was awsome! I've overcome my previous issues, and my character is currently a Magician if I remember correctly. Next comes Warlock, but I think I need to work on a few other things in the game first. I've tried the quest for becoming a warlock and died pretty quickly.
I went to the chess club for a few hours. I ended up playing 3 games against Willie. I'm not exactly certain who Willie is, or how strong he is, but he was certainly playing reasonable. The first game I won on time, but since he was up a pawn we played it out and he won it. We played a second game and he dropped his Knight early and lost. He made a comment about us being 1-1, and wanted to play one more game. I didn't remind him that technically he lost the first game so he didn't actually have any points.
The third game he also lost on time but we continued playing. As my luck would have it, he got himself into a winning position. He must have had a mate on the board, though it wasn't easy to find. He had to keep checking me, or at least be very careful, because I was also threatening mate in 1. In the end, he made a bad choice and lost the game. Again, though, it was already lost on time.
Tonight ends my second full week using the spreadsheet. How did it go? I'll find out in the morning.
Until then!
Ed.
I went to the chess club for a few hours. I ended up playing 3 games against Willie. I'm not exactly certain who Willie is, or how strong he is, but he was certainly playing reasonable. The first game I won on time, but since he was up a pawn we played it out and he won it. We played a second game and he dropped his Knight early and lost. He made a comment about us being 1-1, and wanted to play one more game. I didn't remind him that technically he lost the first game so he didn't actually have any points.
The third game he also lost on time but we continued playing. As my luck would have it, he got himself into a winning position. He must have had a mate on the board, though it wasn't easy to find. He had to keep checking me, or at least be very careful, because I was also threatening mate in 1. In the end, he made a bad choice and lost the game. Again, though, it was already lost on time.
Tonight ends my second full week using the spreadsheet. How did it go? I'll find out in the morning.
Until then!
Ed.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Links
I caught this link over at "dubiousquality":
http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~kritip/managers job.htm
Kind of makes you stop and think about all the opportunities you could be missing out on!
Ed.
http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~kritip/managers job.htm
Kind of makes you stop and think about all the opportunities you could be missing out on!
Ed.
The Mages Spellbook
I finished with my homework a little earlier than expected today (8pm). That gave me a chance to get home and play some Oblivion! I booted it up and decided to continue my quest to get into the Mages Guild. To gain status, you first have to travel to all the guilds in the various cities and garner the recommendations of the head mages in each guild. What that inevitably entails is a series of quests. For each recommendation, they all have something they want you to do for them first. I've already gotten 2 recommendations and I was going to try for my third tonight. The deal is this. I need to find a missing mage. He hasn't been seen in a while, so if I can find him I will get the recommendation I need. I start talking to some of the other mages in the guild and learn that he and Valdermort (made that name up) liked to play games with each other. So I go find Valdermort and he tells me that he'll help as long as I agree to get him the head mages spell book... as a prank. It's locked in the head mages desk, so he gives me a spell to unlock the desk. I find the book and I return to Valdermort. He asks me if I've gotten him the spellbook yet. Unfortunately, even though I have it - it's in my inventory - the "quest" in the game doesn't seem to recognize that I have it when I'm talking to Valdermort. I can't give it to him.
Have you ever seen a grown man cry?
The tears. They're welling up again just thinking about it. I had to turn the game off. How could I go on? What's the use? Why?
So I moved on to chess...
I played a game/15 tonight on the ICC against Znebster. I have no idea who Znebster is - as is so often the case when playing on the ICC. I was a little nervous when the game started because my opponent made his first move almost instantly, but then took almost 90 seconds for his second move. That's very unusual in a "quick" game. I started thinking that maybe he was going to grab a book or something. I know, I always think the worst.
It turned out to be a very exciting game. As I started an attack against his kingside, he was planning an attack on my queenside. The goal, of course, is the equal and opposite reaction. In this case it turned out to be not so equal, but it was fun finding out! I was nervous about his attack because I knew that if mine fizzled out I'd find myself immediately on the defensive.
Here's the game:
[Event "ICC 15 0"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2006.06.27"]
[Round "-"]
[White "EdBorowski"]
[Black "Znebster"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCResult "Black resigns"]
[WhiteElo "2012"]
[BlackElo "2034"]
[Opening "Queen's bishop game"]
[ECO "D02"]
[NIC "QP.06"]
[Time "21:23:29"]
[TimeControl "900+0"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 e6 4. e3 Be7 5. Bd3 O-O 6. Nbd2 c5 7.c3 Nc6 8.Qe2 c4 9. Bc2 b5 10. e4 dxe4 11. Nxe4 Nd5 12. Bd2 h6 13. a3 a5 14. O-O Qc7 15. Ng3 Ba6 16. Nh5 b4 17. Qe4 g6 18. Bxh6 Rfb8 19. Nf4 bxc3 20. Nxg6 Nf6 21. Nxe7+ Nxe7 22. Qh4 Nfd5 23. Qg5+ Ng6 24. Bxg6 fxg6 25. Qxg6+ Kh8 26. Ne5 Ra7 27. bxc3 Qe7 28. Nc6 {Black resigns} 1-0
The critical move was my 20th. It was one of those moves where you know it's right even if you can't fully calculate a win. You just know it has to be winning, so you play it anyway. Of course, you keep your fingers crossed - and hidden - as you do. This was the position before my 20th move. What would you have done?
I know... just like you would have played it! ;)
Until next time, Ed.
Have you ever seen a grown man cry?
The tears. They're welling up again just thinking about it. I had to turn the game off. How could I go on? What's the use? Why?
So I moved on to chess...
I played a game/15 tonight on the ICC against Znebster. I have no idea who Znebster is - as is so often the case when playing on the ICC. I was a little nervous when the game started because my opponent made his first move almost instantly, but then took almost 90 seconds for his second move. That's very unusual in a "quick" game. I started thinking that maybe he was going to grab a book or something. I know, I always think the worst.
It turned out to be a very exciting game. As I started an attack against his kingside, he was planning an attack on my queenside. The goal, of course, is the equal and opposite reaction. In this case it turned out to be not so equal, but it was fun finding out! I was nervous about his attack because I knew that if mine fizzled out I'd find myself immediately on the defensive.
Here's the game:
[Event "ICC 15 0"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2006.06.27"]
[Round "-"]
[White "EdBorowski"]
[Black "Znebster"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCResult "Black resigns"]
[WhiteElo "2012"]
[BlackElo "2034"]
[Opening "Queen's bishop game"]
[ECO "D02"]
[NIC "QP.06"]
[Time "21:23:29"]
[TimeControl "900+0"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bf4 e6 4. e3 Be7 5. Bd3 O-O 6. Nbd2 c5 7.c3 Nc6 8.Qe2 c4 9. Bc2 b5 10. e4 dxe4 11. Nxe4 Nd5 12. Bd2 h6 13. a3 a5 14. O-O Qc7 15. Ng3 Ba6 16. Nh5 b4 17. Qe4 g6 18. Bxh6 Rfb8 19. Nf4 bxc3 20. Nxg6 Nf6 21. Nxe7+ Nxe7 22. Qh4 Nfd5 23. Qg5+ Ng6 24. Bxg6 fxg6 25. Qxg6+ Kh8 26. Ne5 Ra7 27. bxc3 Qe7 28. Nc6 {Black resigns} 1-0
The critical move was my 20th. It was one of those moves where you know it's right even if you can't fully calculate a win. You just know it has to be winning, so you play it anyway. Of course, you keep your fingers crossed - and hidden - as you do. This was the position before my 20th move. What would you have done?
I know... just like you would have played it! ;)
Until next time, Ed.
Manic Monday
I didn't plan on being up at midnight tonight. It was a good plan. After work I'd do my Linear Algebra homework until 7pm, then work on my Decision Support project until 9. What happened? Well, my Linear Algebra homework took me until 7:30. There were only a few questions for chapter 2.1, but they took a long time! Mostly because it took me a while to "get it". That and I had a few interruptions.
My project, well, similar I guess. I won't get into the details, but once I got going I kept at it. Until about 11:45. Just a few minutes ago. When you get into something it's hard to let go. Why is it so hard to get into it though? I must say though... Office 2007 Beta definitely takes a little getting used to. Once you know how to get to things, it all works pretty much the same. The trick is figuring it out. As for my spreadsheet, I'm going a little overboard. I can't help it. I need it to be cool, so cool it must be.
BTW, if you happen to know what "GREEN EMPORER WAY WHERE TOWER TOUCHES MIDDAY SUN" means, please let me know. If you're not playing "Oblivion" for the PC, don't worry if you have no clue what I'm talking about. Not many people do! I would like to get a little ahead on my assignments this week into Saturday so maybe I can spend at least one day this weekend playing some more. I love that game!
I hope you enjoyed your Monday.
Ed.
My project, well, similar I guess. I won't get into the details, but once I got going I kept at it. Until about 11:45. Just a few minutes ago. When you get into something it's hard to let go. Why is it so hard to get into it though? I must say though... Office 2007 Beta definitely takes a little getting used to. Once you know how to get to things, it all works pretty much the same. The trick is figuring it out. As for my spreadsheet, I'm going a little overboard. I can't help it. I need it to be cool, so cool it must be.
BTW, if you happen to know what "GREEN EMPORER WAY WHERE TOWER TOUCHES MIDDAY SUN" means, please let me know. If you're not playing "Oblivion" for the PC, don't worry if you have no clue what I'm talking about. Not many people do! I would like to get a little ahead on my assignments this week into Saturday so maybe I can spend at least one day this weekend playing some more. I love that game!
I hope you enjoyed your Monday.
Ed.
Sunday, June 25, 2006
A slice of life
I had hoped to get a lot of my schoolwork done this weekend. I didn't. My weekend consisted primarily of Oblivion, Chess, and The West Wing. I'm not complaining, it wasn't so bad.
Friday night I decided to get the "Rustic" pizza from Papa Ginos. At the moment it's definitely my favorite pizza. I got there at around 8pm, finally heading home after a busy day. I go up to the register and give them my name. The cashier looks around, then says a large and a small. They have a special - if you buy a rustic pizza you get a free small cheese with it. So I said yes, a large rustic. Oops. It appears after a few moments of confusion that I'm probably telling the truth. Why else would they credit the small cheese on the receipt? So the manager walks over to the register and asks me if I want him to make me one, it would be about 15-20 minutes. I couldn't help myself. I wanted the rustic! So I waited for it.
When I got the pizza, they told me to keep the large as well. Otherwise they would just throw it out. Pizza Fest! On my way home I was heading towards the lights on King street by D'Angelos, at the intersection of King, Bridge Road, and Damon Road, when I noticed it was getting ready to turn green. As I got closer to the lights I started glancing in both directions. It's a habit. I wasn't going too fast, just passing the light, when a car from Damon Road doesn't notice that he's got a red light. He figures it out once he gets about a quarter of the way past the light, blocking my lane, and he stops. Right in front of me. hmm... what to do? So I stop before I hit him, and he's just sitting there. After staring at me for a minute, he finally backs up to the light, and I'm on my way.
Friday night I just watched a couple episodes of The West Wing and ate my pizza. It's a little sad, because I know that this is Rob Lowes last season, and I really like his character on the show. Still, thankfully, the show is full of great characters so I'll get over it.
Saturday I decided to take a break from work/homework and spend the day having fun. So I played Oblivion for most of the day, then went to the chess club at night. At the chess club, like last week, Paul Sarrazin and I played 2 games. If you remember last week I finished with 1.5/2. This week we start out with a game/15. After the game Paul was telling me that he wasn't expecting such a quick time control, and assumed we'd be playing at least game/25. I'm guessing he was primarily annoyed because he got killed on time. He lost on time when i still had 10 minutes left on my clock. In addition to that, he was lost.
The second game we played game/25 and got to the following position:
(the game continued with black playing Rxd2 Rxg5 Kxg5 Kxd2 Kf4 Ke2 and Black wasn't sure how to deal with the White Rook's flexibility.
I had fritz take a look at it today, and it should be a draw. Unfortunately, Paul was down to a couple of minutes left on his clock and I still had over 15. Paul resigned a little bit later because he was about to lose on time and he had dropped a pawn. When I got home from the club I watched another episode of The West Wing.
Sunday was going to be homework day. All day. So I ended up playing Oblivion instead. And some chess too! Not that I'm a huge fan of blitz chess, but today my ICC rating for Blitz just reached its highest. 2005. So that felt good. My ratings on the ICC tend to have a huge fluctuation. My blitz tends to fluctuate between 1600 and 1900 (so hitting 2005 is a surprise to me), my standard between 1900-2100 (my highest was 2199, and the current is 1997).
And on that note, I hope you all had a great weekend!
Ed.
Friday night I decided to get the "Rustic" pizza from Papa Ginos. At the moment it's definitely my favorite pizza. I got there at around 8pm, finally heading home after a busy day. I go up to the register and give them my name. The cashier looks around, then says a large and a small. They have a special - if you buy a rustic pizza you get a free small cheese with it. So I said yes, a large rustic. Oops. It appears after a few moments of confusion that I'm probably telling the truth. Why else would they credit the small cheese on the receipt? So the manager walks over to the register and asks me if I want him to make me one, it would be about 15-20 minutes. I couldn't help myself. I wanted the rustic! So I waited for it.
When I got the pizza, they told me to keep the large as well. Otherwise they would just throw it out. Pizza Fest! On my way home I was heading towards the lights on King street by D'Angelos, at the intersection of King, Bridge Road, and Damon Road, when I noticed it was getting ready to turn green. As I got closer to the lights I started glancing in both directions. It's a habit. I wasn't going too fast, just passing the light, when a car from Damon Road doesn't notice that he's got a red light. He figures it out once he gets about a quarter of the way past the light, blocking my lane, and he stops. Right in front of me. hmm... what to do? So I stop before I hit him, and he's just sitting there. After staring at me for a minute, he finally backs up to the light, and I'm on my way.
Friday night I just watched a couple episodes of The West Wing and ate my pizza. It's a little sad, because I know that this is Rob Lowes last season, and I really like his character on the show. Still, thankfully, the show is full of great characters so I'll get over it.
Saturday I decided to take a break from work/homework and spend the day having fun. So I played Oblivion for most of the day, then went to the chess club at night. At the chess club, like last week, Paul Sarrazin and I played 2 games. If you remember last week I finished with 1.5/2. This week we start out with a game/15. After the game Paul was telling me that he wasn't expecting such a quick time control, and assumed we'd be playing at least game/25. I'm guessing he was primarily annoyed because he got killed on time. He lost on time when i still had 10 minutes left on my clock. In addition to that, he was lost.
The second game we played game/25 and got to the following position:
(the game continued with black playing Rxd2 Rxg5 Kxg5 Kxd2 Kf4 Ke2 and Black wasn't sure how to deal with the White Rook's flexibility.
I had fritz take a look at it today, and it should be a draw. Unfortunately, Paul was down to a couple of minutes left on his clock and I still had over 15. Paul resigned a little bit later because he was about to lose on time and he had dropped a pawn. When I got home from the club I watched another episode of The West Wing.
Sunday was going to be homework day. All day. So I ended up playing Oblivion instead. And some chess too! Not that I'm a huge fan of blitz chess, but today my ICC rating for Blitz just reached its highest. 2005. So that felt good. My ratings on the ICC tend to have a huge fluctuation. My blitz tends to fluctuate between 1600 and 1900 (so hitting 2005 is a surprise to me), my standard between 1900-2100 (my highest was 2199, and the current is 1997).
And on that note, I hope you all had a great weekend!
Ed.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
The Riddle
Yesterday I fell asleep and missed the evening, so tonight I had to play a little catch-up. What did that mean? That meant I got to take my Linear Algebra Chapter 1 Test tonight. So imagine my disappointment when I got home to find my Windows Vista Beta 2 customer preview and Microsoft Office System Beta 2 2007 shipments waiting for me. Guess what I wanted to do?
So I started out by taking the practice test. It was 3 questions and didn't count towards the grade. It was simply to get you familiar with the interface and how you had to take the test. Still, they were linear algebra questions and I wanted to get them right. So I spent about a half an hour on it. I got 2/3. If this was a sign of things to come, I was in for a bit of trouble.
I moved on to the test. I think it took me about 2 hours. There were 20 questions, and even though they were multiple choice they weren't easy. I struggled with the 1st six, and they were only true/false. I also struggled with the last couple. It reminded me a lot of taking the Microsoft tests back in the late 90's. The questions were designed to make you want to pick the wrong answer. You really had to read them carefully, more than once. I'd like to say that I aced it, I really wanted to. I put a lot of time in the chapter, doing all the homework and practice tests. I've probably spent about 2 hours a night for a good week and a half. Still I only managed to pull out an 85. I messed up on 3 of them. I was actually pretty upset about it, but what can I do. Let's hope it doesn't get any more difficult because I've got to start putting some time into my other class as well.
I've been listening to "The Riddle" by Five for Fighting lately. It's a great song. Here's a piece:
The batter swings and the summer flies
As I look into my angel's eyes
A song plays on while the moon is high
over me
Something comes over me
I guess we're big and I guess we're small
If you think about it man you know we got it all
Cause we're all we got on this bouncing ball
And I love you free
I love you freely
Here's a riddle for you
Find the Answer
There's a reason for the world
You and I
And, yes, I did manage to fit in getting Windows Vista installed tonight - on the laptop. I won't really have time to play around with it, but over the next few days I'll probably have some impressions. I'm also looking forward to checking out the latest office. From the previews I've read, it sounds like it's a significant change.
I've also been playing really good chess lately. I don't know why that is... the busier it gets the better I seem to do. Still, I'm looking forward to mid-august when my classes are over and I have some time for a few weeks before my final class starts in September.
I hope you're all having a good week!
Ed.
So I started out by taking the practice test. It was 3 questions and didn't count towards the grade. It was simply to get you familiar with the interface and how you had to take the test. Still, they were linear algebra questions and I wanted to get them right. So I spent about a half an hour on it. I got 2/3. If this was a sign of things to come, I was in for a bit of trouble.
I moved on to the test. I think it took me about 2 hours. There were 20 questions, and even though they were multiple choice they weren't easy. I struggled with the 1st six, and they were only true/false. I also struggled with the last couple. It reminded me a lot of taking the Microsoft tests back in the late 90's. The questions were designed to make you want to pick the wrong answer. You really had to read them carefully, more than once. I'd like to say that I aced it, I really wanted to. I put a lot of time in the chapter, doing all the homework and practice tests. I've probably spent about 2 hours a night for a good week and a half. Still I only managed to pull out an 85. I messed up on 3 of them. I was actually pretty upset about it, but what can I do. Let's hope it doesn't get any more difficult because I've got to start putting some time into my other class as well.
I've been listening to "The Riddle" by Five for Fighting lately. It's a great song. Here's a piece:
The batter swings and the summer flies
As I look into my angel's eyes
A song plays on while the moon is high
over me
Something comes over me
I guess we're big and I guess we're small
If you think about it man you know we got it all
Cause we're all we got on this bouncing ball
And I love you free
I love you freely
Here's a riddle for you
Find the Answer
There's a reason for the world
You and I
And, yes, I did manage to fit in getting Windows Vista installed tonight - on the laptop. I won't really have time to play around with it, but over the next few days I'll probably have some impressions. I'm also looking forward to checking out the latest office. From the previews I've read, it sounds like it's a significant change.
I've also been playing really good chess lately. I don't know why that is... the busier it gets the better I seem to do. Still, I'm looking forward to mid-august when my classes are over and I have some time for a few weeks before my final class starts in September.
I hope you're all having a good week!
Ed.
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