{ "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1", "title": "From the Archive on Swimming in the Earth", "icon": "https://avatars.micro.blog/avatars/2025/26/6721.jpg", "home_page_url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/", "feed_url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/feed.json", "items": [ { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2006/02/08/grant-page-x.html", "title": "Grant Page X is done", "content_html": "

Announcing my new blog, Swimming in the Earth.

Grant Page X is through now. Thanks to everyone who read. I will be continuing to post my thoughts on my new blog, and as a new contributer to AlwaysBeta.

I will keep this blog up for posterity.

\n", "date_published": "2006-02-08T02:26:39-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2006/02/08/grant-page-x.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2006/02/02/im-going-to.html", "content_html": "

I’m going to make a new blog soon. Keep watching in the next few days for the link.

For now, check out nertzy.com which is a placeholder.

\n", "date_published": "2006-02-02T23:01:41-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2006/02/02/im-going-to.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2005/08/03/were-about-to.html", "content_html": "

We’re about to leave for New Mexico on a family cartrip. We’ll be going by the Los Alamos National Laboratory pretty much 60 years to the day Hiroshima was bombed, purely coincidentally. I wonder if we’ll see anything going on there. Protests? Solemn reminders? Nothing?

Anyway I’ll be back in five days and I’ll update you guys on how I’m doing, since I have so lazily neglected doing so for several months now.

Update: so yeah I haven’t posted again, as has been pointed out. Maybe once I’m more settled in back here at Olin.

\n", "date_published": "2005-08-03T13:00:47-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2005/08/03/were-about-to.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2005/05/29/today-i-happened.html", "content_html": "

Today I happened upon the Paseo Arts Festival.
\n\"Paseo

\nThat picture doesn’t really do it justice.  Anyway, I sneaked\naround as it was closing and as the band played “Inagaddadavida”. \nThe Paseo is a small street off the beaten path in Oklahoma City where\na ton of artists live and have studios.  I saw a scultpor’s\nstudio, photographer’s studios, and a lot of closed Indian Taco stands.
\n
\nLately I haven’t been up to too much.  The friends and I have\nresolved to watch all of the Star Wars movies in order.  I’m not\nthe hugest fan but it’s a good source of trivia for who knows\nwhen.  (Jeopardy!, here I come)
\n
\nI hope that my other blog\ndoesn’t wither and die.  I’m not entirely convinced that I will\nhave enough sources of logical fallacies in news articles to make it\ninteresting.  I will keep looking though.  Feel free to\ncontact me if you find some.  I’m trying to stick to reputable\nsources.
\n
\nMy new phone has better text messaging and photo mail abilities, so\nI’ve been sending dog pictures out to Carrie and posting cameraphones\npictures on my Flickr site.  They are decidedly low quality but fun nonetheless.  One of these days I’ll get my actual camera fixed.
\n
\nMeredith’s father brews beer (and wine, actually) at home.  He\nkeeps track of every batch in a notebook.  Right now he’s working\non his 57th batch.  Seeing all of the handwriting made me wish I\nhad something to keep track of longterm like that.
\n
\nFor those of you who don’t know, I am obsessed with typography these days.  This isn’t just a passing thing, like my cryptography phase or my oscillating interest with Thomas Pynchon.  I’m downright obsessed.  My two favorite fonts of the moment are Incognito and Dolly, both available from Veer, the design company famous (in my eyes) for employing Grant Hutchinson.
\n
\nDolly is “a book typeface with fluorishes”.  I love book\ntypefaces, and every time I read a book I spend about as much time\nadmiring the letterforms as I do reading the actual content.
\n
\nIncognito is based on the fancy writing of old maps.  When I was a\nchild I would peer into maps endlessly.  The best part about this\nfont is that each capital has a swash variant that goes in one of four\ndifferent directions, named after the Latin for North, East, South, and\nWest.  Very elegant, albeit a bit overused in their type specimens.

\n", "date_published": "2005-05-29T01:51:02-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2005/05/29/today-i-happened.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2005/05/23/i-realize-what.html", "content_html": "

I realize what I’ve been missing from Oklahoma.
\n
\nThe smell of the air at night after a hot day.  I can’t describe\nit, but it’s so crisp and rich and at the same time not at all thick.
\n
\nAnd I also miss being able to see at night because the businesses keep\ntheir lights on in the parking lots.  The light pollution in\nOklahoma City is incredible.  When you drive towards Oklahoma City\nat night, you can see the entire horizon lit up from tens of miles away.
\n
\nWe watched Loser at Meredith’s house.  The movie is cute and well-made.  It reminded me of summer in New York last year.
\n
\nMy girlfriend is really wonderful.  She came over to Olin while I\nwas packing and kept me company even when it was about the most boring\nthing ever.  Never once complained even if I had to run off for an\nhour or two to go put stuff in storage while she waited and napped on a\nbed without sheets on it in the bright light while Dan also packed.

\n", "date_published": "2005-05-23T03:24:05-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2005/05/23/i-realize-what.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2005/05/17/time-for-a.html", "content_html": "

Time for a couple of updates from the Grant Hutchins camp.
\n
\nFirst off, I’ve started a new blog, Grant’s Take,\nwhere I will post my skeptical analysis of articles that I read. \nI have no agenda other than the new blog’s motto, “Question everything\nyou read."
\n
\nSecond off, I just put the finishing touches on the three latest games on my Grant Bowls! page.  I have a new personal best!
\n
\nLast, but not least, I randomly searched my name using Google Suggest today.  It turns out that as you type Grant Hutchins, the form autocompletes with “grant hutchins millionaire”.  I guess enough people have searched me looking perhaps for the video.  E-mail me if you want the link.
\n
\nThe second hit I got was my recent mention in Prism, the American\nSociety for Engineering Education’s monthly journal.  I highly\ndoubt that being on a has-been television show is some of the biggest\nengineering education news for April (especially considering the show\naired the beginnning of February) but who’s counting?
\n
\nI still don’t have a job but I’m trying several different ways to get\nthe attention of employers.  I haven’t been outright rejected yet,\nbut I’ve only received one actual offer, not really for a job but\ninstead for volunteer work to do a new PBS show’s website.  I’m\nnot really sure if doing that would be a horrible waste of my time or a\ngreat resume builder.
\n
\nHere’s my profile on LinkedIn.  Please add me as a contact if you know me or have worked with me in the past.

\n", "date_published": "2005-05-17T03:38:53-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2005/05/17/time-for-a.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2005/04/19/ten-years-ago.html", "content_html": "

Ten years ago on this day I sat working on an assignment for my math\nclass.  I had tested out of a chapter of work and was working by\nmyself on a project to present to the class.
\n
\nSitting in the independent project classroom, we felt the building\nshake.  At first the teacher told us it was probably a sonic\nboom.  She used to live near an air force base, and recently on\nthe news people had talked about the possibility of stationing B2\nstealth bombers at Tinker Air Force Base.  I thought it could have\nbeen an earthquake.
\n
\nWe looked out the window and saw a plume of smoke, like a brush fire, about 10 miles away.
\n
\nAround 9:00 am on April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh drove a Ryder truck\nfull of ammonium nitrate fertilizer and nitromethane racing fuel in\nfront of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma\nCity.  At 9:02 am the truck detonated, ultimately killing 168\npeople, from ATF agents to children in a daycare center.  At the\ntime it was by far the largest terrorist attack on American soil, and\nto this day it remains the largest domestic terrorist attack.  The\ndeath toll came out to approximately 13 times that of Columbine, the\nschool shooting that would take place exactly four years and one day\nlater.
\n
\nReports came back to school slowly.  We didn’t really know what\nwas going on, but over time it became clear that it wasn’t\nnormal.  Some students were told that their parents were OK. \nSomething had happened downtown, and everyone was waiting on more\ninformation.
\n
\nMy mom ran outside, thinking that a plane had exploded in the\nair.  She had her window open and could hear the blast from 15\nmiles away.  She later went to the local Wal-Mart and saw a\nphotographer run in to get pictures developed.  They need to get\ndeveloped now!  They need to get to the media…
\n
\nThat day was the first day my aunt was to do court reporting for a\nfederal trial, instead of the local and state trials she had been doing\nbefore.  She sat in court in the Federal Courthouse, immediately\nbehind the Murrah building, certainly on the side one would rather be\non.  Her cassette tape recording of the trial caught the blare of\nan enormous explosion, following by frantic voices and the judge\nordering everyone to immediately leave the building because a bomb had\ngone off.
\n
\nWhen I got home CNN was showing the same thing as the local news, and\nevery other channel for that matter.  Bulletins were put out for\n“middle eastern terrorists” that never panned out.  A white\nsupremacist Gulf War veteran named Timothy McVeigh was arrested for\nexcessive speeding going north on I-35, away from the blast.
\n
\nOnce everyone figured out that it was a truck bomb, and the dust\nsettled, people began the rescue effort.  From all over the\ncountry, and indeed the world, firefighters, police, medical personnel,\nand volunteers poured in to help.  Some of these officials would\nlater die in the September 11 attacks at the World Trade Center. \nRobots were used to dig through the rubble in the hopes of finding\nsurvivors.  After a few days, these hopes were dashed and families\nhad to admit defeat.
\n
\nOn Thursday, my parents took me and my brothers downtown to catch a\nglimpse.  We weren’t going to get close, just get within\neyeshot.  It was a media circus.  It seemed like every local\nnews station in America had a van parked there.  Police lines were\neverywhere, blocking square miles of downtown.  Some extra line\nwas hanging off of a tree and I cut off a piece of it, which I have to\nthis day.  You could see the damage clearly from a mile\naway.  The mood was somber and quiet and people were moving about\nmatter-of-factly.
\n
\nA week later, once all hope was lost, and to further protect the\nimmediate area by preventing an imminent collapse, the Murrah buidling\nwas imploded and cleared away.
\n
\nApril 19.  The date doesn’t mean much outside of Oklahoma, but\nthere it automatically means the bombing.  A nameless federal\nbuilding housing seemingly unrelated federal offices that I had never\nheard of was attacked by a man who wanted to avenge the botched siege\nby federal agents of the Branch Davidian complex in Waco, TX, two years\nearlier.
\n
\nNo one really knew why Oklahoma City should be a target.  Everyone\nin the nation started talking about the “heartland”.  It was\n“terror in the heartland”.  Where you’d least expect it.  The\ngovernor of Oklahoma was on national television constantly, and each\nday the police would report to the public the updated tally of those\nwho had died.  It ended at 168.
\n
\nMonths later, the State of Ohio donated some trees to plant at the\nState Capitol, one each for the people who died.  I was a Boy\nScout, in Troop 78, and I volunteered that day.  I was up on stage\nduring the dedication holding the Oklahoma flag up so that it wouldn’t\nfall over in the wind.  That was the first and only time that I\nheard the names of those killed read aloud.  It took about 45\nminutes.  Many if not most of the survivors were there, as well as\nfamilies, planting trees for the people they knew and loved.
\n
\nJust over six years later, terrorists attacked four planes, New York\nCity, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania.  Perhaps the worst part\nabout that day was knowing how it would play out, what the aftermath\nwould be.  First off, remember the date, September 11, we’ll be\nhearing about this for some time, just like April 19.  Second,\nthere will be a relief effort.  People will come from all over to\ndig through the rubble in order to find survivors.  Third, the\ntime will come where no one could be expected to live under this\nrubble.  People will still want to search, but they need to stop\nsometime.  People will fight to keep looking, but realistically\nit’s already too late.  And there will be a few key images that\npeople remember.
\n
\nFor Oklahoma City, it is usually the firefighter holding the baby, who would die in the next day or so.
\n
\n\"Photo
\n
\nTen years later, things are going a lot better in Oklahoma City. \nThe other day we were featured on the front page of the B section of\nthe Wall Street Journal in a glowing article talking about the urban\ndevelopment, increased tourism, and how well the city had moved past\nthe stigma of being a victim.
\n
\nRead more about the bombing:
\n| Wikipedia | CNN | Oklahoma City National Memorial | Yahoo! |

\n", "date_published": "2005-04-19T09:04:16-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2005/04/19/ten-years-ago.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2005/03/26/hello-everyone-im.html", "content_html": "

Hello everyone.

\n

I'm in Oklahoma City, about to head back to Boston.  I didn't get to see too many people this time around, because I was only here for three non-flight days!

\n

American Airlines cancelled my reservation because the lady at Chicago didn't scan my ticket when I got on my flight, so they bumped me to a later one.  What a bunch of hoodlums.

\n

Other than that, I went dogsledding last weekend.

\n

\"Carrie

\n

That's me on the right in the ridiculous sunglasses.

\n

 \"The

\n

We're on a frozen lake in Maine.  We slept outside on the lake itself.

\n

 \"Carrie

\n

Here's one of the dogs (and Carrie too).  The dogs obsessively pull when you put them on a leash.  They are certainly bred for pulling sleds.

\n

 

\n

Yesterday I bowled the best game of my life, a 162.  My dad didn't beat it, but his three-game series still won.

\n

Anyway, I'm gonna go back to waiting for my new flight.

\n", "date_published": "2005-03-26T10:52:23-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2005/03/26/hello-everyone-im.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2005/03/13/my-streak-ended.html", "content_html": "

My streak ended.  No, not that streak.  Maybe later for that one.
\n
\nBut anyway I forgot to post last night.  Yesterday I went shopping\nfor some major school supplies, on the halfway day of the semester!
\n
\nI also had my first 8 am class, which was wonderful!  I’m so excited about complex numbers.  I simply adore them.
\n
\nAnyway, I went to the special collections\nat the library of Harvard’s Graduate School of Design.  Before we\ngot into the library, we saw the best working environment I’ve seen in\nmy life, a giant stairway of desks where people design\narchitecture.  Imagine a grand staircase of open cubicles, with\nthe newbies on the bottom and the PhD’s on top.  After we went\ninto the library we saw a ton of stuff, such as hand-drawn plans for\nthe St. Louis Arch and Gropius’s clipboard.  I held Gropius’s\nclipboard.  I simply love clipboards!  I bought another one\nat Staples today so that if I lose my current clippy I don’t have to\nfall behind in my classes!
\n
\nAnd today I went to parties at Wellesley and briefly at Babson.  Had a lot of fun.

\n", "date_published": "2005-03-13T02:59:36-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2005/03/13/my-streak-ended.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2005/03/11/quick-post-to.html", "content_html": "

Quick post to keep my streak alive…
\n
\nI have an 8:00 am class today!  It’s 3:52 am so I better run off to sleep.
\n
\nYesterday was extremely busy, but worthwhile.
\n
\nHave a nice day!

\n", "date_published": "2005-03-11T03:52:46-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2005/03/11/quick-post-to.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2005/03/10/today-is-my.html", "content_html": "

Today is my Xanga’s 250th day.  That’s right, it’s the “quarter mille”.
\n
\nI finally did my laundry today.  I’ve been keeping myself busy enough that I have been way behind.
\n
\nFor my student government position I often administer surveys to\nvarious groups of students.  The other day I made three different\nmockups of a single survey I’m about to give to the entire student\nbody.  I presented these mockups to my Human Factors: Interface\nDesign class to let the students test them out.  I learned quite a\nlot from the process, and now I think the survey should be quite easy\nto take (once I implement the best suggestions from the class).
\n
\nThis monday, the Data Destruction Tour is coming to Boston.  The\nData Destruction Tour is the only tour I know of that specializes in\nthe tiny little subgenre of music known as lofi or 8bit or chiptunes or\ngamemusic or about a million other things.  The idea is to use\n1980s computer technology or video game systems or similar sounding\nsynthesis techniques to make music.  Hear some at micromusic.net. \nI have considered burning a few CDs of a some songs I have written in\nthis style and giving them around to the people involved to sorta jab\nmyself into the scene a bit.
\n
\nFrom a micromusic.com email:

Mar 14th 2005 Data Destruction Tour 2005
\nartists: Nullsleep, Bit Shifter, Covox
\nvenue: The Enormous Room, 567 Massachusetts Ave., Boston, MA, USA
\nstart:  9:00pm
\nfee: 21+ no cover
\nmore info:  http://www.enormous.tv/

\n", "date_published": "2005-03-10T04:16:08-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2005/03/10/today-is-my.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2005/03/09/i-wonder-if.html", "content_html": "

I wonder if it will be a snow day.  The weather is completely\nhorrible and miserable.  If it’s a snow day, it will have no\nimpact on me, however, because I have no classes on Wednesday.
\n
\nA snow day on any other day would help me catch up so much, but a Wednesday snow day does nothing for me.
\n
\nI say “catch up” but I’m not too far behind on things.  I\ncertainly have a lot going on, but when I sit down and think about it,\nthey are moving along fine.  Some of my things could use some more\nenthusiasm, and the occasional jolt back into action, but really I am\non top of most stuff right now.
\n
\nWe made a transistor radio in Analog and Digital Communications,\nhard-tuned to WEEI 850 AM sports radio.  The class is really\nstarting to make a lot more sense these days.  It only makes me\nwish I could spend more time designing circuits or software for\nprocessing audio.  Designing audio filters, in hardware or in\nsoftware, is one of my favorite activities.  Luckily, I’m majoring\nin the right thing, Electrical and Computer Engineering.

\n", "date_published": "2005-03-09T04:00:51-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2005/03/09/i-wonder-if.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2005/03/08/grant-why-is.html", "content_html": "

Grant: “Why is J. Lo a popular singer?"
\nDan: “Cause she’s got a nice ass."
\n
\nWow, thanks Dan.  Really classy.  That wasn’t what I\nmeant.  Jennifer Lopez has an annoying nasal voice.  Her\nlatest song has an annoying sax line.  I… secretly wish that I\ndidn’t like it in a disturbing way.
\n
\nI’m going dogsledding for the first weekend of Spring Break up in Maine.
\n
\n
\n
\nI came up with a new way to make my todo list.  I put todo items\nup on Post-It notes on my wall.  The higher notes represent more\nimportant things I need to do, like get a job for summer.  The\nbottom notes are not important, such as fixing my digital camera. \nThat way I still see everything I have to do, but I don’t forget the\nimportant stuff.  I’ll tell you how it goes.  I think this\nwill finally be the method I keep.
\n
\nToday I stopped doing things for an hour.  It was splendid. \nSince last Thursday, I hadn’t stopped for even ten minutes. \nConstant activity, moving from class to party to class to meeting to\nmeeting to the candidate’s weekend and back again.  Finally I can\nget some sleep.
\n
\nStarting this Friday I will have an 8 am class, Complex\nVariables.  I’m actually really excited about Complex\nVariables.  They really come in handy for messing with audio\nsignals.  But anyway this means that my first classes each day\nwill look like this:
\n
\nMonday 2 PM
\nTuesday 8 AM
\nWednesday (no class, nothing until CORe meeting at 6:30 PM)
\nThursday 2 PM
\nFriday 8 AM
\n
\nIt doesn’t get any weirder than that.
\n
\nAlso, elections are going to be soon for CORe (The Council of Olin\nRepresentatives), so I will sadly give up my post as Vice Presdient of\nCommunication.  I might run for another executive position, but I\nhaven’t decided yet.  The CORe Digest is my baby!  I will\nmiss it!

\n", "date_published": "2005-03-08T03:50:16-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2005/03/08/grant-why-is.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2005/03/03/someone-needs-to.html", "content_html": "

Someone needs to tell Google that their stuff isn’t in beta\nanymore.  Napster killed that word forever, and now Google is\ndesecrating its coffin.
\n
\nIf you find yourself in a slump, as I have, then clean up your\nroom!  It does wonders for the psyche!  Throw away lots of\nstuff.
\n
\nTucker IMed me today and we talked through some programming issues on\nour software synthesizer.  Good news!  It works on my\ncomputer for the first time!  Now we can finish up the GUI and we\nwill have a product that is ready for real-world beta testing! \nKeep posted.
\n
\nThe check came in the mail to Oklahoma yesterday!  I will probably cash it while I’m home for Spring Break. 

\n", "date_published": "2005-03-03T03:17:58-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2005/03/03/someone-needs-to.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2005/03/01/i-remembered-what.html", "content_html": "

I remembered what I was going to blog about last night, but forgot to.
\n
\nYesterday my professor didn’t show up for my class\nSynchronization.  There are 6 students in the class, but only 5\nshowed up.  We waited for a bit and then one of the staff came in\nand told us the professor wasn’t coming.  We then spent the entire\nremainder of the class period going over the homework, writing stuff up\non the board, and debating it.
\n
\nI love this school.  The subject matter is interesting enough that we don’t even need a professor to hold class!

\n", "date_published": "2005-03-01T17:49:04-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2005/03/01/i-remembered-what.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2005/03/01/back-to-blogging.html", "content_html": "

Back to blogging!  A lot of people are getting involved on the Olin College blogring these days.
\n
\nWe just had the first Candidate’s Weekend of the year.  It went\nvery well.  The students are getting inspired again to be at Olin.
\n
\nToday I put a bunch of pictures up on flickr.  Just go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/nertzy for more.
\n
\nToday the rest of the CORe E-Board and I went to the senior\nadministration meeting for Olin.  We gave student feedback to the\nPresident, VPs, and heads of various departments.  I think it went\nwell.  I got to learn a lot of details about running a new school.
\n
\nI got my camera back today in the mail.  I’d left it in Drew’s car\nin LA.  It reminds me of all my broken items.  My camera’s\nflash doesn’t work.  My palm’s screen doesn’t work.  My next\npalm’s screen cracked.  The face broke off of my nice watch. \nIf only I weren’t so lazy I would fix them all.
\n
\nNow all I really need is a summer job.  A nice internship.  I\nhave some wonderful contacts lined up so I guess I should start asking\nthem for advice.
\n
\nThe new Chemical Brothers album, Push the Button, is\nvery nice.  I like the first two tracks best, “Galvanize” and “The\nBoxer”.  I didn’t like “Galvanize” the first time I heard it, or\neven the second, but now it’s one of my all-time favorite Chemical\nBrothers songs.  It’s interesting to note that I also didn’t like\n“Block Rockin’ Beats” the first few times I heard it.  I still\nhaven’t figured out how the Chemical Brothers are able to evoke this\ninitial disinterest.
\n
\nWell I shall try to get into a better habit of posting on here.

\n", "date_published": "2005-03-01T03:11:43-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2005/03/01/back-to-blogging.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2005/02/04/today-check-local.html", "content_html": "

\"Grant
\nToday.
\nCheck local listings.
\nInterview with the Edmond Sun.

\n", "date_published": "2005-02-04T01:19:52-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2005/02/04/today-check-local.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2005/01/06/hello-everyone-its.html", "content_html": "

Hello everyone.  It’s been too long since I’ve posted.  The\nnext installment of the Innermost Cabin stories is “Not a True Story”.  Enjoy.
\n
\nI’m about to embark tomorrow morning on a grand trip from Oklahoma City\nto Los Angeles, for 22 hours.  I’m going with Drew, who lives out\nthere with my friend Jon.  I will be flying back to Oklahoma City\non the 18th.  I hope to bump into as many people in LA as I\ncan.  I went last year but only knew three people from LA. \nThis year I know at least ten.
\n
\nOther than that I’ve been reading V. by Thomas Pynchon.  I’ve finished The Crying of Lot 49\nand will then move on to Mason & Dixon before tackling the\ngrand-daddy Pynchon book of all time, Gravity’s Rainbow.  Wish me\nluck, this is not an easy task.
\n
\nAustin and I continue our work on Gamecube games.  I have ordered\nthe hardware that will allow me to load my code from an SD card, so\neveryone at Olin will finally get to see Snowlords in action!
\n
\nOther than that I applied to some jobs at The MathWorks and\nApple.  I will apply to some less ambitious places too so that I\ndon’t yet again come up empty-handed.
\n
\nMy next computer will be a Mac, perhaps a G5 tower.  Mmm.

“Not a True Story”
\nAmanda Deinstadt
\nKristina Putnam
\n1/3/98
\n
\nThis is not a true STORY
\nAt ten of ten p.m. Me and my friend were eating raisins we both chocked!!
\nLucky we didn’t die.
\nAfter that the disidid to go play and feed the brids. Then they went for a walk
\nin the woods They saw more brids. So they fed them. Amanda and Kristina\nboth goth a big brid It bit off there hand! They still did not die.
\nThey saw a werewolf. They both ran and ran. The werewolf finally goth\nthem. He ate them!  In  15 years there were two girls the\nsame age the died to the Same Way.
\nThe End

\n", "date_published": "2005-01-06T02:57:48-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2005/01/06/hello-everyone-its.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2004/11/22/im-back-in.html", "content_html": "

I’m back in Oklahoma City for Thanksgiving.
\n
\nLast night I went to Rima’s birthday party and saw some old\nfaces.  Afterwards we watched Spongebob Squarepants: The Movie,\nand I believe I was the only person to laugh at the fact that the\nboss’s name is Eugene Krabs.  Eugene Krebs was a perrennial\nSocialist presidential candidate back around the 1920s.
\n
\nToday we had early Thanksgiving in Enid.  We had some good\nlasagna.  Also, my grandfather gave us his 1985 Toyota Camry,\nwhich hit exactly 100,000 miles on the drive home.  I am\nconsidering taking it up to Boston, but it’s not looking too up to that\ntask as of now.
\n
\nTime for part two of the Innermost Cabin series.
\n

Nature
\nGreg Miller
\nno date
\n
\nThe cabin is great, small, warm, quite, and peacefull. The trails long\nand spooky! nature just singing birds, the ruffles of the water the\ntrees swaying back and forth, the wind blowing, deer running, and frogs\njumping from lilypad to lilypad. Nature is great. Till the one eyed\ndeer hunts you down and craps on you. So be aware of the dunt dunt\ndunnnnn the One Eyed Deer

\n", "date_published": "2004-11-22T01:34:37-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2004/11/22/im-back-in.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2004/11/18/sorry-i-havent.html", "content_html": "

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while.  To tide things over, I’m going\nto start posting some of the Stories from Innermost Cabin. \nFreshman year, 4 of us stayed at the Innermost Cabin\nat the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary.  In the guestbook, we\nfound a bunch of stories written by schoolchildren that had stayed\nbefore us.
\n
\nNow, get ready for the first installment, “The Coyote Man”
\n

2/23/01
\nGreg Miller
\nThe Coyote Man
\n
\nWalking down the icy path to get to the cabin I saw a coyote but it\ndidn’t look like one eather, and then I saw it a Coyote Man we were all\nscared to death, so we ran to the cabin, we were safe. When we got to\nthe cabin me and my friend Justin wrote in the Jurnels and and Started\nto make a fire. Then we started to burn up from the fire so we took a\nwalk out to the bathrooms to cool off a little and then it Happend\nCoyote Man jumped out and pit a piece of Justin’s arm then Justin got\neatin It was grose. I was running realy fast to get to the babin then\nJustin’s dad tripped and Coyote Man eat the whole half of his body now\nI was scared. Walking down the path hearing footsteps all the Sudden it\nhappend Coyote Man bit my head right off.

\n", "date_published": "2004-11-18T02:16:13-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2004/11/18/sorry-i-havent.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2004/10/22/eyedropbc-hey-is.html", "content_html": "

Eyedropbc58: hey, is this grant?
\nGrant: yes this is
\nEyedropbc58: thats good
\nEyedropbc58: uh hello? hwy aren’t you talking?
\nGrant: I’m busily putting together the CORe Digest
\nGrant: who is this
\nEyedropbc58: is there something u want to know about me?
\nEyedropbc58: Please talk to me
\nGrant: Prove to me that you’re not a bot
\nEyedropbc58: i thought so
\nGrant: Who programmed you?
\nEyedropbc58: haha, FunnyMuffin.com has really funny pictures. have you ever been there?
\nGrant: oh yeah all the time… I go there to get my bikini line waxed.
\nEyedropbc58: my name is ashley
\nGrant: Hello ashley, so what do you get accomplished by talking to me?
\nEyedropbc58: me? no
\nEyedropbc58:\nYou have been talking to a computer! One of your friends is reading the\nwhole conversation and laughing it up right now! GET EVEN! Have the bot\ntalk to all your friends by visiting chattingaimbot.com
\nGrant: oh you don’t say

\n", "date_published": "2004-10-22T04:43:51-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2004/10/22/eyedropbc-hey-is.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2004/09/22/october-tape-date.html", "content_html": "

October 19, 2004 - Tape date
\nJanuary 26, 2005 - Air date

\n", "date_published": "2004-09-22T17:15:46-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2004/09/22/october-tape-date.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2004/08/17/hello-everyone-so.html", "content_html": "

Hello everyone.
\n
\nSo it’s been awhile since my last update.
\n
\nNo photos today.  I’ve taken a lot in these last ten days or so, but those will come later.
\n
\nI’m back home in Oklahoma now.  Nothing much going on here. \nIn fact, I’ve seen much fewer people than I usually would have since\nI’ve gotten back.
\n
\nLast weekend I stayed with my roommate Dan at his house in Somerville,\nMassachusetts.  On the days while everyone was working at their\ninternships, I wandered down Highland Ave. near Davis Square and\nsnapped a ton of pictures of typical Americana.
\n
\nWhile in the Boston area, Dan, Tommy, and I went to the Skellig bar in\nWaltham and competed in the trivia contest.  We started strong,\nbut ended with a fairly miserable showing, coming in dead last. \nOne round left us with zero points earned.  Unfortunately we will\nbe unable to show them what we really are capable of because Dan and I\nwill have a Mathematical Analysis class in which we will prove the\ncalculus from scratch on Mondays from 9:30 to 11:30 pm this\nsemester.  What better way to pass the time.
\n
\nI started and finished Fermat’s Enigma, a book on solving the most\nfamous mathematical problem of the last few centuries, Fermat’s Last\nTheorem.  Since then I’ve completed the first four chapters of the\n9/11 Commission Report.
\n
\nThe last few nights have seen countless hours spent on trying to get\nmultiplayer Red Alert, Red Alert 2, Quake II, Quake III, or Warcraft\nIII working properly.  Our best successes have been\ncross-platform, ironically.
\n
\nI will take a picture of my family’s new poker chips for the next post.

\n", "date_published": "2004-08-17T02:56:24-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2004/08/17/hello-everyone-so.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2004/08/04/last-wednesday-cagle.html", "content_html": "

Last Wednesday Cagle and her friend Erin came from Alabama to visit for three days.
\n
\n\"Erin
\n
\nWe wandered around the Big Apple and hit a lot of cool shops in\nGreenwich Village, where I snagged some good vinyl and a really cheap \nhardcover\ncopy of Thomas Pynchon’s Mason and Dixon to add to my to-read list.
\n
\nI found this picture on the wall at Famiglia’s Pizza, a nice New York pizza joint.  My brother will appreciate it.
\n
\n\"American
\n
\nTucker, Cagle, Erin, and I went to Jacques Torres’s chocolatier in Brooklyn for my third time.  I found these chocolate sculptures in the back room:
\n
\n\"Chocolate
\n
\nWe walked back over the Brooklyn Bridge, for my fourth time.  I\nfound this spray-painted into the concrete of the bridge walkway. \nI hate it when people spray paint messages on stuff using\nstencils.  It’s tacky and rude, but at least in this particular\ncase it supports my political cause, albeit to an extreme.
\n
\n\"Osama

\nWe ran into a b-boy posse breakdancing for the crowd later that day.
\n
\n\"Breakdancers\"
\n
\nThe next day we ran into a large group of firefighters and police\nunexplainedly axing their way into a Borders bookstore which otherwise\nseemed fine.
\n
\n\"Firefighters\"
\n
\nWe ate at a nice little Greek restaurant in the Village, and I ordered\npastichio, a traditional Greek dish that my mother and grandmother make\nevery once in a while since my grandfather has full Greek blood. \nThe pastichio was excellent, the salad was wonderful in its feta glory,\nand the baklava was just what I like, proving that I do indeed have\nGreek blood running in my veins.
\n
\nOn Saturday after the two girls left Tucker, Mara, and I went kayaking\nin the Hudson River.  If you go to the end of Riverside Park by\n72nd Street, they have a little platform set up where you can hop on a\nkayak for free for up to 20 minutes, or up to 2 hours on Fridays.
\n
\n\"Kayaking\"
\n
\nThe journey offered a wonderful view of Manhattan, dominated in this particular area by a series of Trump condominium buildings.
\n
\nDan drove down from Boston later that day and stayed the night. \nWe ran around town some more and ended up in Hoboken, NJ, for my final\ntrip to visit Emily at Stevens.  Dan grabbed some of my belongings\nto help me in my upcoming move to Boston for the weekend before my\nflight home next Wednesday.
\n
\nOn the way back from work on Monday, Tucker and I ran into a strange sight:
\n
\n\"Bird
\n
\nSorry for the gruesome imagery, but whatever got to this bird left the\nwings and only the wings entirely intact.  Very strange.
\n
\nToday Tucker, Mara, and I ate at an Afghanistan restaurant.  I\nloved it!  I didn’t expect to, since I had nothing to base\nexpectations on.  I am now convinced that orange rind should be\nput into every dish.
\n
\nAfter putting in a little more work on the synth, Mara and I watched a\nbootleg copy of Fahrenheit 9/11, which I found to be suprisingly devoid\nof any real argument or fresh, important details about its title\ndisaster.
\n
\nI highly recommend the 9/11 Commission Report for anyone who wants a\nserious look into the reality of the situation.  You can grab a\nrecording of an executive summary free on iTunes right now.  I\nmuch prefer to read it, however, and want to buy a copy sometime\nsoon.  It’s now on my Amazon wish list.  Go be curious and poke around on it if you like.

\n", "date_published": "2004-08-04T01:29:26-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2004/08/04/last-wednesday-cagle.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2004/07/27/my-luck-continues.html", "content_html": "

My luck continues to rise.  When I walked home from work today I\nfound a Yamaha DX7 synthesizer with 61-key keyboard lying against a\ntrash can to be thrown out.  I snagged it and left a note behind\nin case the person didn’t mean to throw it out.
\n
\n\"Yamaha
\n
\nHowever, the state of the keyboard suggests it was ready to be thrown out.  For example, the power cable has come loose.
\n
\n\"Dx7
\n
\nI am an electrical engineer, so this does not faze me in the\nslightest.  Soon I will grab a soldering iron and make it work to\nthe best of my abilities.
\n
\n\"Dx7
\n
\nThe Yamaha DX7 was a popular synthesizer of the 1980s, and make a lot\nof the defining sounds of eighties music.  Its quality isn’t\nwonderful, from what I’ve heard, but it’s a synthesizer nonetheless and\nI’m sure I can find good uses for it, especially as a keyboard\ncontroller for my computer music setup.
\n
\nAfter I had spent hours waiting in the rain to get tickets to the\nShakespeare in the Park show in Central Park, and after the rain fully\ncleared up, they cancelled the show.  However, before I got in\nline for standby tickets, I did manage to snap some pictures of a\ncompletely burnt car on the side of the road.
\n
\n\"Burned
\n
\nThe flames completely destroyed the interior, leaving a metallic shell.
\n
\n\"Burned
\n
\nToday I ate dinner outside on patio seating at Max SoHa, a most\nwonderful Italian restaurant less than a block from my apartment.
\n
\n\"Max
\n
\nThe food is excellent and the atmosphere very comfortable and familial.
\n
\n“SoHa” stands for “South of Harlem,” and we’ve similary named our startup synthesizer software company SoHa Sound Design,\nin reference to where the development actually took place.  We’re\nhoping to finish up a release candidate of the final synthesizer by the\ntime I leave New York on August 11, and have a final 1.0 version ready\nfor sale a few weeks thereafter.
\n
\nCagle and her friend come up to visit me for a few days on Wednesday\nand Dan comes up on Saturday, so my week should be filled with plenty\nof excitement.

\n", "date_published": "2004-07-27T01:37:31-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2004/07/27/my-luck-continues.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2004/07/23/today-i-received.html", "content_html": "

Today I received a postcard from the daily version of Who Wants To Be A\nMillionaire.  They accepted me into the contestant pool and more\nlikely than not they will call me in the next month or two and give me\na tape date.  The daily version has no Fastest Finger, so if I got\non I would be directly in the Hot Seat.
\n
\nThe synth project goes well.  We should have a final product ready\nin a week or two.  The last few days have been slow, but today\nsomething clicked and both Tucker and I made incredibly impressive\nprogress.  The sound quality has increased tremendously and our\nproduct has a lot of potential, in my humble opinion.  OK, maybe\nit’s not as humble as possible.
\n
\nThe other day the entire ISE office went to Mama Mexico, a fairly good Mexican restaurant:
\n\"Mama
\n
\nMy boss Chris is on the left.  He’s gotten me hooked on the egg\nand cheese sandwiches with Tabasco sauce that they sell on the street\ncorner by our office.  It tastes better than it probably sounds.
\n
\nLately, some of the workers in the office have been clearing out old\nequipment and files to put in the dumpsters.  I snapped a quick\npic of some vacuum tubes in one particularly old piece of equipment:
\n
\n\"Vacuum
\n
\nThe next book on my reading agenda is Mind at Light Speed: A New Kind of Intelligence\nby David D. Nolte.  Every book I’ve read this summer has tied into\ncognition, how the senses work, or quantum theory.  This book\nmanages to tie all three concepts together and draw even more links\nbetween the variety of new things I’ve learned about in prior\nbooks.  I’m surprised how in what I thought was a seemingly random\nassortment of books I have happened onto the same major concepts three\nor four times now.
\n
\nI have now covered the paranoid angle, the medical angle, the artistic\nangle, and finally the scientific angle of such things as neural\ntheory, quantum physics, and how we perceive images.
\n
\nI spent Monday in Hoboken, NJ, with my old friend Emily.  She’s a\nphotographer so as soon as I got there we went to a shoot she had been\nhired for.
\n
\n\"Emily
\n
\nShe captured the essence of a Wall Street entrepreneur’s million dollar\napartment.  I chatted him up on wine and travel and he predicts\nthat Argentina will be the next great wine producer in the next decade\nor so.  I’ll keep an eye out.
\n
\nAfterwards, we went to the Stevens Institute of Technology bowling\nalley, and I rolled a series of three bowling games.  Although I\nthrew some great balls, I tended to step over the foul line and this\nparticular alley made sure not to count two of my strikes and one seven\npin frame, so I didn’t even break 100 on my first game.  I plan on\ngoing bowling more this school year.
\n
\nTomorrow will be Shakespeare in the Park in Central Park (if we can get\ntickets this time) and Saturday will be my second short story event at\nColumbia.  The short story events involve a bunch of people (who I\nmet through Tucker) collecting together and reading aloud their\nfavorite short stories.  It’s simple, envigorating, and human to\nlisten to others tell stories.  Lately, attendees have been\nencouraged to write their own short stories to tell at the next\nsession.  I might attempt to bring this concept to Olin.

\n", "date_published": "2004-07-23T00:26:21-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2004/07/23/today-i-received.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2004/07/19/i-have-spent.html", "content_html": "

I have spent the last few days with little social interaction.
\n
\nToday when my friend Mara came to my room I started blabbing about a\nmillion different things, because I had saved up stuff to talk\nabout.  I must have appeared quite manic.  She seemed OK with\nit though and manically spoke back so I guess it was fine.
\n
\nOver the course of the last two days I have decided that the world is starting to fall apart.  Here is my evidence:

\n\nIn addition, I have found myself reading all about Bobby Fischer,\nperhaps the world's best chess player ever, and certainly the chess\nworld's most outspoken anti-Semitic anti-American reclusive\nnutcase.  Bobby Fischer praised the September 11 attacks on a\nPhilippines radio broadcast and went against a presidential order in\n1992 to play a chess game in Yugoslavia.  He was found the other\nday at Narita International Airport in Japan and is in the process of\nbeing extradited to the United States to stand trial.  His website is a hilarious mish-mash of misplaced criticisms and paranoid banter.
\n
\nBut they hauntingly reminded me of the website of a certain Sam Sloan.  Here is a small list of similarities:
\n\nHowever, Sam Sloan is not a wanted criminal and is instead running for\nthe House of Representatives in the Bronx.  He also is the last\nperson to have represented himself to the Supreme Court.  He won\nhis case 9-0.  By the time the decision was rendered, it seems he\nwas in a prison in Afghanistan, which he escaped from soon thereafter.
\n
\nAnyway my current theory is that the \"savant syndrome\", which I am reading about in my book Phantoms of the Brain by\nRamachandran, is at play.  Both of these men are great chess\nminds,\nyet both seem horribly paranoid, constantly reinvent their lives, and\nproselytize their bizarre and specific views through verbose text-based\nwebsites.  Socially I think their lives are completely complex\nmesses, and yet they maintain a careful constant determination to\nsucceed in whatever they do above all.
\n
\nSo, yeah, that's what I've been up to.
\n
\nOn Saturday, after a failed attempt by Tucker and Mara to get us\nShakespeare in the Park  tickets, I wandered alone through the\nstreets of the Morningside Heights district of Manhattan, between 123rd\nand 110th Streets.
\n
\n\"Mailbox
\n
\n\"123rd
\n
\nThis view shows the red line of the subway as it becomes an\nelevated train.  I live on the street right where it comes\nout.  122nd St. goes over the subway, 124th Street goes under the\nelevated track, and 123rd St. runs right into the point of intersection\nand abruptly ends.
\n
\n\"Elevated
\n
\nMy weekend also involved a lot of reading.  I finished the final half of the Ramachandran book and read some of Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing,\nwhich I borrowed from my Biology (and Art) professor Helen\nDonis-Keller.  This book ties right in with the Ramachandran book,\nexpanding on the cognition of seeing and applying it to the world of\nart.
\n
\nI am enrolled in a three student course with Prof. Donis-Keller for\nthis fall semester called The Intersection of Art and Science. \nPersonally, I cannot wait.  I have always obsessed over the senses\nand the function of the brain, and the small size of the course means I\nwill get a good chance to explore with a lot of guidance from my\nprofessor.  I often disagree with her, both politically and\nartistically at times, but appreciate her perspective because it often\ncatches me off guard and forces me to reconsider what I am doing.
\n
\nTomorrow I go bowling in Hoboken, New Jersey.  Soon I will have an update for the Grant Bowls! page of my sister site Grant Page Central,\nwhich is in dire need of an update.  My plan is to convert Grant\nPage Central into a static content site of my musical works, some\nwritings, and of course bowling scores, while letting this page, Grant\nPage X, be my blog.
\n\n", "date_published": "2004-07-19T00:48:52-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2004/07/19/i-have-spent.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2004/07/16/hello-everyone-i.html", "content_html": "

Hello everyone.  I have several important Grant updates for the last couple days.
\n
\nLast Tuesday, July 13, 2004, I went to the free Fountains of Wayne\nconcert at the World Financial Center downtown.  The World\nFinancial Center is right across the street from the World Trade Center\nsite.  I snapped this pic of the new WTC station that opened up\nearlier this year:
\n
\n\"Wtc
\n
\nAnyway I made my way to the back side of the big huge indoor Winter\nGarden at the WFC, where all sorts of people started crowding around\nthe stage outside.
\n
\n\"Wfc
\n
\nThey played a good set and poked a little fun.  At one point, the\nlead singer changed around some lyrics to Radiation Vibe for old\ndiehard fans like me to pick up, since parents and kids made up the\nmajority of the audience due to the newfound recent success of their\nlatest album.  They came out for a double encore, which now marks\nthe second time I’ve seen them do a double encore, although both times\nit seemed like they weren’t planning to.
\n
\n\"Fountains
\n
\nI was worried I wouldn’t hear “The Biker Song” this time, but they\nfinally played it in the double encore, so this concert marks the first\ntime in a while that the band played every song I wanted to hear. \nHmm, well all except “Troubled Times” I guess.  The band hails\nfrom New Jersey, and many of their songs deal with places in New Jersey\nor New York City, which made the show even better.  My favorite\nsong by them right now, “Sick Day”, takes place on a PATH train from\nNew Jersey, so after the show I got them to sign my PATH Quick Card,\nalthough they seemed confused at first as to the reference.  On\ntop of that they seemed a little drunk and partially deaf,\nunfortunately.
\n
\nThe lead singer, Chris Collingwood said that he used to work in this building on the 35th floor (he’s the one on the right):
\n
\n\"35th
\n
\nOn Thursday I again tried out for Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, the\ndaily version.  This time I passed the test and got to the\ninterview process.  They took a Polaroid of me and the interviewer\nseemed pretty interested in several things that I had to say, so in\nthree or four weeks I will know if I am eligible to be on the show.
\n
\nAfter that, I met up with Leighton and we went to the lounge of the new\nMandarin Oriental hotel up on the 35th floor.  Here was our view\nof Central Park:

\"Central
\n
\nAfter that we had lunch at a wonderful restaurant called Eatery with\nprices much lower than the quality of the food.  After that we\nwent hotel lobby hopping and ended up at a really posh lobby at W Hotel\nin Times Square and the incredible world’s largest lobby at the New\nYork Marriott Marquis:
\n
\n\"Nyc
\n
\nYes, this picture was taken indoors.  To give a little\nperspective, those are balconies off of each floor which face down into\nthe atrium.  Leighton took a business call, and I relaxed and\nalmost fell asleep:
\n
\n\"Leighton
\n
\nAfter that I returned to the apartment and fell asleep for six\nhours.  I have ruined my daily schedule entirely, so now I’m going\nto go program some more for the software project Tucker and I work on\nall the time.
\n
\nCiao.

\n", "date_published": "2004-07-16T01:04:29-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2004/07/16/hello-everyone-i.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2004/07/13/saturday-the-fabled.html", "content_html": "

Saturday the fabled trip to Staten Island finally took place.  We\nhopped on the red line subway and transferred to the Staten Island\nFerry, a big free boat.
\n
\nStanding at the extreme front of the ship offered this view:
\n
\n\"Staten
\n
\nI have now seen both Statues of Liberty.  After the French donated the statue, they erected a smaller copy in Paris, which I saw by chance out of the side of a train car during my trip there two years ago.
\n
\nUpon arriving on Staten Island, we proceeded to the New York Chinese\nScholar’s Garden\nat the Staten Island Botanical Garden.  For everyone less familiar\nwith New York City, Staten Island makes up a large portion of New York\nCity, and is one of the five boroughs along with Manhattan, Queens, the\nBronx, and Brooklyn.  Staten Island is mostly surburban as opposed\nto the other boroughs, featuring malls instead of skyscrapers.
\n
\nHowever, the Chinese Scholars Garden, the first of its kind in the\nUnited States, offered an escape from the trappings of city life:
\n
\n\"Garden
\n
\nOK, this first picture wasn’t from the Chinese Scholar Garden per se,\nbut instead from a smaller garden within the botanical garden.
\n
\n\"Garden
\n
\nThis mosaic was made by a traditional Chinese scholar garden artist who\nuses materials around him.  The white parts were rice bowls he\nbroke from the kitchen without asking and the green parts are Heineken\nbottles.
\n
\n\"Garden
\n
\nWe continued to a blatant “secret” garden, which was closed. \nSince we had paid for admission, we felt it acceptable to hop onto the\nwall and sit for awhile.  As the photographer, I do not appear in\nthese photos.
\n
\n\"Secret
\n
\nAfterwards Tucker impressively hopped onto a nearby and somewhat inaccessible tree:
\n
\n\"Garden
\n
\nWe ended the day by watching King Arthur, which not unlike Lord of the\nRings did not strike my fancy.  I did manage to stay awake for\nthis one, fighting hard at times.  I did enjoy the show for what\nit was, but I could not suspend disbelief long enough to really care\nabout what was going on.
\n
\nToday at work during my lunch break a bird flew over and perched on my outside table in the rain:
\n
\n\"Bird
\n
\nHe rejected my offer of a small morsel of tomato (the red spot in the\npicture), but violently grabbed Tucker’s offering of a little piece of\nbread and cheese and flew away fast enough that he could be sure we\ncouldn’t reconsider.

\n", "date_published": "2004-07-13T00:37:53-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2004/07/13/saturday-the-fabled.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2004/07/10/hello-everyone-today.html", "content_html": "

Hello everyone.  Today I didn’t take any pictures, so I will pull some from my summer archives.

\n
\n

On June 26, 2004, several other Olin students and I toured the city.  I\nsnapped this picture of the Empire State Building while laying down on\nthe sidewalk:

\n
\n\"Empire
\n
\nOn July 4, 2003, I found this abandoned building or parking garage in Brooklyn:
\n
\n\"Bklyn
\n
\nThe weather was beautiful today when I emerged from my apartment for the\nfirst time at about 8:00 to eat Subway sandwiches at Grant's\nTomb.  On the way to Subway, I passed the General Grant Houses,\nwhich this picture from July 8, 2004, showcase in front of the elevated\nsubway train just south of 125th Street and Broadway:
\n
\n\"General
\n
\nTucker and I cook many of our meals, including this Thai chicken dish\nthat Mara from downstairs helped us out with on June 16, 2004:
\n
\n\"Thai
\n
\nHopefully once the burners start burning again we will make some more\nmeals, but the cooking has slowed down considerably in recent weeks.
\n
\nToday I thought about how I don't watch much television and how many of\nmy hobbies involve creating things.  I considered how much more\nfulfilling I find life when I have something concrete to reflect on\nfrom my past.
\n
\nMy friend Jon often complains that he has trouble finding things to do\nwhich don't involve \"consuming\", be it food or media or just generally\nspending money on useless things.  He genuinely means what he's\nsaying, but more often than not he brings the concept up in a ploy to\nget the gang to do something we never would have otherwise, from\ninviting fifty people to a marshmallow roast in his backyard to Pong\ntournaments (with commentary from the announcer, of course) to a\nrousing game of croquet right before I left for New York City.
\n
\nSo my charge unto you the reader is:  go do something you haven't\ndone before.  Make a kite and fly it.  Go shopping for\nantiques.  See if bread really does land on the floor butter side\ndown every time.  Plant some flowers.
\n
\nAnd please tell me what you did so that I can have more ideas.
\n", "date_published": "2004-07-10T02:17:52-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2004/07/10/hello-everyone-today.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2004/07/09/to-appease-all.html", "content_html": "

To appease all of my kitchen ceiling’s fans, presenting the final installment of the Kitchen Ceiling Chronicles:
\n
\n\"Fixed
\n
\nShe’s a beauty.  The kitchen has returned to normal, except that\nnow the gas range and stove do not light themselves.  Therefore,\nwe our celebratory tuna sandwiches went uncooked.  However, all\nwas not lost.  I discovered the new entry to our kitchen today, a\nmirror nailed to a cabinet door:
\n
\n\"Kitchen
\n
\nThis mirror reflects a style found throughout the apartment.
\n
\nToday I did laundry at B. Bubbles, Inc.
\n
\n\"B
\n
\nWhile there, I snapped a picture of a man lugging far more cans down\nthe street than I could ever hope for, a commonplace occurrence in a big\ncity such as this one.
\n
\n\"Guy
\n
\nToday I finished a book I had borrowed from Tucker called The Evolution of Useful Things: How everyday artifacts—from forks and pins to paper clips and zippers—came to be as they are.  I’ve finished two books so far this summer.  The first was The Crying of Lot 49\nby Thomas Pynchon, which I found very captivating, despite its immensely\nobscure references and themes.  One of my life goals is to finish\nPynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow,\na most dense and unfriendly book which introduces ridiculous characters\nnonstop and shoots around from the history of plastic to political\ntheory to differential equations to German folk songs often within one\nsentence.
\n
\nBut for now, the next book on my list is the Olin College summer reading, Phantoms in the Brain,\nby V.S. Ramachandran, M.D., Ph.D. and Sandra Blakeslee, a book\nconcerning cognitive syndromes and how they reveal insights into our\nown mental functions.

\n", "date_published": "2004-07-09T00:29:11-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2004/07/09/to-appease-all.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2004/07/08/hello-everyone-time.html", "content_html": "

Hello everyone.  Time for the daily kitchen ceiling update. \nMy cell phone alarm did not go off because I had it set to “Ringer\noff”.  Personally I’d rather have the alarm go off regardless of\nthe ringer setting.  However, my late start this morning meant\nthat I was fifteen minutes late to work today, allowing me to witness\nthe arrival of three painters.  Here is their ladder:
\n
\n\"Kitchen
\n
\nThe kitchen ceiling now looks like\nthis:
\n
\n\"Somewhat
\n
\nCertainly not as nice as before but now the kitchen is usable again.  Tomorrow we will make tuna sandwiches to celebrate.
\n
\nHere is my itinerary for next week:
\n
\n
\n\n\n

\n\n \n \n \n
Saturday, July 10, 2004
\n		The long-awaited trip to Staten Island might occur on this date if I push hard enough.
\n
Tuesday, July 13, 2004Maybe I will\ngo see Fountains of Wayne play a free show.  It's first-come\nfirst-served, so I'm not sure if I would be able to make it in time.
Thursday, July 15, 2004My\nsecond audition time for \"Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?\" will\nhopefully see me get past the pre-test and get the interview.  I\nthink I could kill in an interview, but maybe I'm overconfident.
Thursday, July 15, 2004My roommate from this previous\nyear, Mr. Leighton Ige, will visit New York City for the day.  We\nwill probably go catch dinner.
\n

\nOn July 4, 2004, I found this stairway in a subway station:
\n
\n\"Subway
\n
\nHave a nice day.
\n", "date_published": "2004-07-08T00:22:19-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2004/07/08/hello-everyone-time.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2004/07/07/ceiling-update-the.html", "content_html": "

Ceiling update:  The waterproof latex paint that caught the water\nand sagged down off of the ceiling has mysteriously disappeared,\nleaving behind dripping scars.
\n\"Torn
\n
\nOther than that, a most uneventful day.  I got a new assignment at\nwork, which will be my first PHP + MySQL web application ever.
\n
\nSome pigeons:
\n\"Pigeons\"
\n
\nAnd finally, a picture of the Guggenheim that I took on June 20, 2004:
\n\"Guggenheim\"

\n", "date_published": "2004-07-07T00:51:16-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2004/07/07/ceiling-update-the.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2004/07/05/hello-everyone-and.html", "content_html": "

Hello everyone and welcome to New York City.
\n
\nYou’re on 123rd Street between Amsterdam and Broadway:
\n\"My
\n
\nYou approach 522 W 123rd St., affectionately known as “The Lorraine”
\n\"The
\n
\nWhy it’s named The Lorraine I will never know.  No other building\nanywhere near has a name.  After going up a couple flights of\nstairs you find yourself in Apt. 3W and enter.
\n
\nYou stop by the kitchen:
\n\"Sky
\n
\nYou look up at the ceiling:
\n\"Ceiling
\n
\nYou notice that something doesn’t look right, and it’s not just that\nthe light fixture is an uncovered power-saving fluorescent bulb that is\nconnected by thinly insulated wires which go right behind the\nelectrical sockets and are held to the side of the wall by metal screws\nthrough the insulation which are painted white.  Those bulbs are\nin the other rooms.  The kitchen has a problem all its own.

\n", "date_published": "2004-07-05T23:03:56-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2004/07/05/hello-everyone-and.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2004/07/05/this-morning-i.html", "content_html": "

This morning I was awakened by two Chinese men asking me if I had a\n“twisted pair wire cutter thing”, which meant an ethernet cable\ncrimper.  One was the landlord and the other was the father of the\ntwo high school kids who will be moving into our apartment.  We\nnetworked the entire house today.
\n
\nAfter that, Tucker baked some cookies using his old recipe from his mother.  We noticed a large bulge in the ceiling.
\n
\n\"Bulge\"
\n
\nLooks like a leak from the floor above somehow.  Our apartment\nused to be three bedrooms, but two of the bedrooms were split with\ncheap fake walls, which were put right on top of the carpet. \nTucker slid a wire under the wall between our rooms when we wired the\nhouse up.  It’s nice to know that we can slide things to each\nother under the wall at any time.
\n
\nI had a great Fourth of July!  I tagged along with Tucker and his\nfriends and went to DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge) to watch\npurportedly the largest fireworks show in the nation.
\n
\n\"Bklynfireworks\"
\n
\nYou can see the Brooklyn Bridge right in front of the fireworks, which\nwere a couple miles from us just south of the tip of Manhattan.
\n
\nWe were on some rocks right next to the Brooklyn-side pylon of the\nManhattan Bridge:
\n\"Dumbo\"
\n
\nThe skyline looked like this:
\n\"Bklynskyline\"
\n
\nToday I downloaded Fahrenheit 9/11 after I read that Michael Moore\ndoesn’t care if people pirate his movie.  I will watch it soon,\nprobably with my friend Mara from downstairs.  I previewed the\nfirst few minutes and found a lot of hype without a lot of argument, as\nI expected.  You can download Fahrenheit 9/11 too, while supplies last. (UPDATE: you will need BitTorrent in order to download it, and this version is missing about 20 minutes concerning the Patriot Act)
\n
\nThe only things I ate today were several of Tucker’s cookies and a bowl of Chilled Gazpacho soup from Josie’s.  Tomorrow might be another Taco Bell day.

\n", "date_published": "2004-07-05T00:30:16-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2004/07/05/this-morning-i.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2004/07/03/hello-again-everyone.html", "content_html": "

Hello again everyone.  I have just returned from Spiderman 2, and\nI loved it.  I am a big sucker for comic book movies.  I read\na review today on Yahoo! Movies:

\nIn a time when losers decide to profit off dead Americans and reek\npropaganda unseen since the fall of the Soviets, comes a movie worth\nevery penny! A movie that assumes that we’re not all brainless idiots!\nHowever, just people looking for a solid sense of entertainment in\ncontrary to hidden issues masking political bloopers, infamous\nouttakes, and puppetry of audience perception.
So\nas all of my more liberal friends groan, I want to touch on why I love\nthe concept of comic books and superheroes.  I feel that the\nclassic characters, from Spiderman to Batman and everywhere in between,\nrepresent a lot of what goes on in American life.  Watching Peter\nParker not meet rent while I’m paying rent for the first time, and\nseeing him go around New York, my current home, and Columbia\nUniversity, my current employer, bring reality into such a fake movie.
\n
\nAnd one of the classic Spiderman messages is so uplifting in my\nopinion.  It’s not that doing the right thing will get you\nahead.  It’s not that being a superhero will make everyone love\nyou, or even give you self-confidence.  The main message I heard\nfrom the movie is to work, work, work.  When you know what you’re\ndoing is the right thing, work at it.  When you’re not sure, keep\non working.  Just get through it all and leave it better than you\nfound it.
\n
\nOne of my favorite songs is The Noise of Carpet by Stereolab. \nThis song rocks way more than the remainder of their often-mellow,\nalways obscure fare.  Somehow I love the mix of the unabashed guitar-driven music and the deadpanned yet quite firm lyrics:

\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\ti hate to see your broken face
\nthis world would give you anything
\nas long as you will want to
\nas long as you will want to
\ni hate your state of hopelessness
\nand that vain articulateness
\nyour loser type wreck wanna be
\nnot a pretty sight really
\nin another world it'd be funny

\ni hate to see your broken face
\na lazy life of fatal waste
\nof fashionable cynicism
\nthe poison they want you to drink
\noh no man that's too easy
\noh no man that's too easy
\nwe weren't talking bout happiness
\napply your leading potential
\nto be useful to this planet
\nthe world would give you anything
\nas long as you will want to
\nas long as you will want to\n
Some might see a few of those lines as being bitter. \nSure, they are, but what better thing to be bitter about than the\ncynics who are not willing to work to improve their situation? \nDon't get me wrong, I think cynicism is incredibly important in life,\nbut the next time you're down, just do something to make things better.\n", "date_published": "2004-07-03T23:54:34-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2004/07/03/hello-again-everyone.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2004/07/03/i-told-myself.html", "content_html": "

I told myself I would never stoop to such a level as having a website I didn’t code myself.  But then I succumbed.
\n
\nDan told me that in order to have a good blog I can’t just talk about\nwhat I’ve been up to.  I need to talk about the ideas I’m having\nand try to make my blog something worth reading.  Challenge\naccepted.
\n
\nMy first big idea:  I’ve tried to eliminate my usage of\nexclamation points recently.  I realized that if what I’m saying\nneeds an exclamation point in order to get its point across, I haven’t\nwritten it effectively.  I often catch myself putting exclamation\npoints on every other sentence of emails I write, especially the CORe\nDigest.  I might leave them in for the CORe Digest since I’m not\nexactly going to take the trouble to strip them out by hand from what\npeople send me.
\n
\nIf you’re not from Olin you probably don’t care one bit about the CORe\nDigest.  For the curious, I put out a weekly email newsletter to\nthe campus as part of my role on the student government.

\n", "date_published": "2004-07-03T01:12:27-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2004/07/03/i-told-myself.html", "tags": ["From the Archive","Xanga"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2004/03/04/too-much-going.html", "content_html": "

Too much going on!

\n

So far this week, I have slept through my business class, I\nhave prepared and performed PCR to sequence my own DNA, I have\nbeen trained by an improv comedy professional, I have gone to a\nclass at an all-girls school, I have visited a sleep lab and\ntried on equipment, I have given a presentation at the faculty\nmeeting, I have participated in a discussion about the entire\ncurriculum of my school, I have chatted at length with the CEO of\na small biotech company, and I have run a planning meeting for\nthe student politics organization of my school, of which I am the\npresident.

\n

This school has to be the strangest place on Earth.

\n

I should be working on my Circuits lab to make white\nnoise, or writing an article for the school newspaper, or\nwriting some reflections for Business, or\nfor Design, or I\ncould finally get around to declaring my major, which I decided\non years ago, or I could...

\n

go to sleep.

\n

And yes, this webpage does still exist.

\n", "date_published": "2004-03-04T13:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2004/03/04/too-much-going.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2004/02/20/tetris-i-remixed.html", "content_html": "

Tetris!

\n

I remixed the Tetris A theme from the Game Boy. “Tetris\nA (Filter House Remix)” is now available on the Grant Music page.

\n", "date_published": "2004-02-20T13:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2004/02/20/tetris-i-remixed.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2004/02/04/life-is-good.html", "content_html": "

Life is good.

\n

This weekend will be very busy, however. Tomorrow I am booked\nstraight through from 9:30 am to 6:00 pm. I will have a couple\nhours to breathe, followed by the MCM,\nwhich will claim most of my life until this upcoming Monday. As\nfor everything else, life is good.

\n", "date_published": "2004-02-04T13:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2004/02/04/life-is-good.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2004/01/29/bse-will-live.html", "content_html": "

BSE will live on!

\n

BSE has one fewer member, as you may well have heard. Chris,\nyou will be missed, but we will keep in touch and the Chris\nspirit will still be with us this semester. Stuff happens. Time\nis always a good thing. Oh, and I'm in no way implying that\nyou are no longer part of BSE. The Best Semester Ever will live\non.

\n

Tomorrow is my first Wellesley class! I can't\nwait to see the reaction of all the girls. This shall be\ninteresting.

\n

I'm reading \nThe Double Helix by James Watson, co-discoverer of the\ndouble helix structure of DNA. Re-reading, that is. My Biology\nclass at Olin requires it, but so did my AP Biology class, so\nI've read it before.

\n

I just watched the Olin Challenge PBS\nspot and I must say things have changed dramatically since\nPartner Year. I'm listening to \n\"Kernkraft 400\" by Zombie Nation. Man things have changed.\nRight now I am in a nest of \nsocial conflicts of interest, but don't worry, I will take\neach of my friends at face value and well\nconsider why I ever became his or her friend in the first\nplace.

\n

If this post sounds cryptic,\nthat's because it is. Lately I feel like a changed man, ready to\ntake\non the world and what it has available for me. I'll give you\na status report after this weekend.

\n", "date_published": "2004-01-29T13:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2004/01/29/bse-will-live.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2004/01/28/bse-this-webpage.html", "content_html": "

BSE!

\n

This webpage is officially back in action! That's\nright, Brian\nand Sheeva,\nthis page is turning\nover a new leaf and providing actual content\nstarting right now!

\n

I wrote a Gamecube\ngame with tkcne, also known as Austin. It is called Snowlords\nand it is based on the Atari 2600 game Warlords. The release was\nmade official in #gcdev on EFNet and spread to websites such as\ngcdev.com and dextrose.com. Maybe one of\nthese days we'll get a screenshot. Today I searched\nfor Snowlords on Google and found that there are two\ndifferent French-language sites featuring our game! Check them\nout \nhere and here! Each\nhas its own translation! A longer translation from the second\nsite can be found in \nthe Google cache.

\n

BSE stands for Best\nSemester Ever and is the club that Dan, Chris, and I started.\nIt essentially involves getting out of Olin more often. I'll try\nto keep up with pictures. We went to the Lovewhip show at Bill's Bar\nand had a grand old time. Lovewhip features Olin's own AV\nTechnician Warren Jones (alias \"Wojo\") on saxophone,\nkeyboards, and telephone rap. I earned the nickname \"John\nTravolta\" over at IT.

\n

My Wellesley class starts on Friday. I can't wait! I have\nCognition with visiting professor Jesse Hochstadt. It's in the\nsame room as Dan's Japanese class, and starts five minutes after\nhe is let out.

\n

Normalform is back\nup! Check out the new sections! Jon is leaning on my shoulder in\nthe second\nT-shirt pic. You can see the \"Do Something\" Olin\nT-shirt's sleeve.

\n

My sophomore design group will be researching people who\nsuffer from sleep\ndisorders and the people who treat them. Tomorrow we're going\nto visit a sleep center nearby and ask some questions and\nobserve.

\n

I bought the \nSpike Jonze DVD. More on that later.

\n", "date_published": "2004-01-28T13:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2004/01/28/bse-this-webpage.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2003/10/28/whats-new-a.html", "content_html": "

What's new?

\n

A lot of changes for me lately. Tonight I'm singing up for my\nnew courses. I'm excited about the new Circuits course that will\nbe offered. I've also just started in Amateur Radio club, which\nfits pretty nicely with the whole circuits interest and\neverything. Other than that I think I'm going to take a class at\nWellesley, although I haven't decided on one yet.

\n

I've recently been hired to do the Research Working Group\nwebsite. It's nice to actually have content and a goal for making\na webpage. Maybe somewhere in the process I'll get some ideas for\nthis page.

\n

I'm coming home for Thanksgiving! I'm pretty excited, since\nI've really wanted to see my family lately.

\n", "date_published": "2003-10-28T13:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2003/10/28/whats-new-a.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2003/06/17/change-of-plans.html", "content_html": "

Change of plans

\n

In order to rescue this page from its abysmal status, I am now\nannouncing that Grant Page Central will soon move to a static\ncontent format with a new design. For now all news updates have\nbeen pushed into Grant News Archive. Thanks for your\npatience.

\n", "date_published": "2003-06-17T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2003/06/17/change-of-plans.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2003/04/05/its-april-and.html", "content_html": "

It’s April!

\n

And there is snow outside. It doesn’t feel like the end\nof the school year is near. I bet if I were in a warmer climate I\nwould have that great feeling I remember from Oklahoma that\nsummer is coming soon.

\n

The results are in for the MCM. Kathy\nand I received an Honorable Mention for our paper. The paper had\nsome holes in it for sure but I think our approach was well\nthought out.

\n

Dean Kamen is coming to town soon. This Wendesday Olin will be holding its Big\nConversations day. Some students will be presenting to him\nsome business ideas revolving around the dynamic balancing\ntechnology of the Segway. Just this week I found out that Steve Wozniak, cofounder of Apple Computer and general cool\nguy, will be coming for the next Big Conversations day in the\nnext fall semester. I couldn’t be more thrilled.

\n

More to come...

\n", "date_published": "2003-04-05T13:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2003/04/05/its-april-and.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2003/03/08/what-about-last.html", "content_html": "

What about last month?!

\n

OK so that last update didn’t say a whole lot. I know, I\nknow. Well here is an update on what's been going on in Grantland\nsince I talked to you last.

\n

I took the Mathematical Contest in Modeling with Kathy. The\nMCM is a mathematical modeling competition in which you get a few\ndays more than a weekend to research, create a mathematical\nmodel, and write a paper about some system. This year we did \nProblem A, in which a motorcycle stuntman jumps over an\nelephant for a movie and lands in cardboard boxes. Our mission\nwas to describe how cardboard would cushion his fall, although I\nwould say our paper's strength was less in answering that\nquestion and more in considering a lot of different external\nfactors that other groups may not have considered. Like, for\ninstance, how to set up the shot so that it looks interesting in\na widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio frame.

\n

A week later was St. Valentine's Day and I started it off\nright by losing the ability to run Windows. I then ran off to Hillside\nElementary and taught some fourth-graders about electricity\nand shocked them with a Van de Graaff\ngenerator. Sometime I might go visit the world's largest Van de\nGraaff at the Boston Museum of\nScience.

\n

Speaking of Van de Graaff generators, my current project for\nmy Project class is to build one. Que Anh, Sharon, Sutee, and I\nhave almost finished making a clear handheld Van de Graaff that\naims to make it more apparent to kids what is going on inside. It\nlooks really swanky. We ordered our sphere from a\nbackyard/pool decoration\ncompany, of all places, so ours looks the best in my\nopinion.

\n

Well anyway after all that mess it was time to go to the\nValentine dance. Beforehand my two dates, Clara and Janet, and I\nwent with Dan and Frances to a pretty good Italian restaurant, \nAppetito, in \nNewton Center. From there we returned to Olin and the dining\nhall where a multiple-story cardboard Eiffel Tower had been\nconstructed. The dance was somewhat fun and now Clara is my\ngirlfriend. You might be asking, “What about poor Janet,\nyour other date?” Well it turns out that now she is\nDan’s girlfriend, creating the odd situation where one pair\nof roommates is dating another pair of roommates. Strange.

\n

As if that wasn't enough, the next weekend I went to the 2003 Stanford Graduate School\nof Business Entrepreneurship Conference in Palo Alto, CA. We\nmade some good connections and hopefully I’ll be emailing\none of the graduate students I met that was helping to run the\nshow so that Stanford and\nOlin can have some sort of\nofficalized relationship. This is the strange stuff that goes on\nwhen you attend a brand new college.

\n

Fast forward another weekend, and it’s once again time\nfor an Olin College Candidates Weekend. This year we held two\nweekends, each with about seventy-five students. I must admit I\nwasn’t so involved this time around. Candidate weekends are\nquite impressive. The concept is that you apply to Olin, and then\na certain number of students are invited to interview and\ninteract with the students, faculty, staff, and administration of\nOlin. Out of those who attend, the entire class is selected with\nno regard given to the test scores, essays, or anything in the\nsubmitted applications. In other words, the admission staff wants\nto meet everyone and make sure they are Olin material and also\nthat Olin is the right place for them. Candidate Weekend I ended\nwith the Franklin W. Olin Players performing “The\nForeigner”, which received a standing ovation. I wonder how\nmuch easier it is to get a standing ovation when your audience is\nfilled with candidates who really want to get in? The\nsecond weekend ended yesterday with ExpressO, which was an\nopen-mic talent show event culminating in a little\nmini-dance-party involving us, the faculty, prospective students,\ntheir parents, and the staff and adminstration. I don't know of\nany other school where this might happen.

\n", "date_published": "2003-03-08T13:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2003/03/08/what-about-last.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2003/02/06/linux-i-finally.html", "content_html": "

Linux! I finally have windows again!

\n

Yes I started this post with “Linux” and then\nfollowed up with “I finally have windows again!”

\n

For the last three weeks I have been unable to run my Windows\n2000 partition. I have therefore been (somewhat willingly) stuck\nin Gentoo Linux, an\nup-and-coming Linux distribution that makes people like me quite\nhappy.

\n", "date_published": "2003-02-06T13:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2003/02/06/linux-i-finally.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2003/02/06/quick-and-dirty.html", "content_html": "

Quick and dirty and lazy update

\n
\n
deklab: yo\ndeklab: whats the latest\nnertzy: yo\nnertzy: hmm\nnertzy: I'm going to www.econference.org\nnertzy: in a couple weeks\ndeklab: cool\nnertzy: and the valentine dance is in a week\ndeklab: rock\nnertzy: oh boy a valentine dance with 75 people\ndeklab: picked out the lucky lady?\nnertzy: hehe not yet\nnertzy: we'll see\nnertzy: so many options\nnertzy: you know the thing you touch and it makes your hair stand on end?\nnertzy: electric big zapper deal\ndeklab: haha yeah\nnertzy: Van de Graaff generator\ndeklab: sure\nnertzy: well my class project right now is to build one\nnertzy: after that we'll do some simple circuits\nnertzy: then after that... we're supposed to design a product that uses wireless\n         technology\nnertzy: oh and it appears I'll be teaching electricity stuff to like 4th and 5th\n         graders for community service every other week or so\ndeklab: hahaha\nnertzy: hmm what else\nnertzy: tomorrow is the big math competition\nnertzy: from thurs to mon me and the other girl on my team will get a problem of\n         the world and we have to solve it with math\nnertzy: and write up a paper\nnertzy: last year one of the problems was \"fix airlines overbooking\"\ndeklab: :)\n
\n
\n", "date_published": "2003-02-06T13:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2003/02/06/quick-and-dirty.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2003/01/30/longer-two-weeks.html", "content_html": "

Longer two weeks.

\n

I apologize for the lack of updates. I've been swamped with\nwork and maybe I'll toss up some new content after I finish my\nmath homework tonight. Anyway I wanted to make sure everyone\nknows I still exist and still plan on updating.

\n

Oh, and I rode a Segway.\nPictures to follow shortly.

\n

If you're bored check out Taxi 2000.

\n", "date_published": "2003-01-30T13:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2003/01/30/longer-two-weeks.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2003/01/16/long-week-this.html", "content_html": "

Long week.

\n

This week, I

\n\n

Last Saturday I woke up nine hours earlier than usual and went\nto the \nOklahoma National Guard 45th Infantry Brigade headquarters\nwith Jon to pull cable\nand do other grunt work for a live broadcast (narrowcast?) to\nfifteen VIPs\nfrom Washington, including the Undersecretary of the\nArmy. The troops were engaged in war games, teamed up with\nthe Little Rock and Tulsa National Guard brigades to do tank\nbattle against a common enemy simulated by computer. The point of\nthe whole deal was for a fiber-optics company to show its worth\nto the higher-ups and get a hefty government contract to fiber up\nthe country. And I made fifty bucks off of it.

\n

CD Warehouse, based out of\nOklahoma, is going out of business. They have to clear out all\ntheir merchandise so the CDs were only a dollar each. Jon\nDenmark, Jon Hutchins, and I cleaned out the place. Actually some\nother guy helped clean out the place when he bought nearly three\nhundred \nLatin albums. Anyway, I now have thirty discs more than\nbefore.

\n

Jon is headed to the Sundance Film Festival! On\ntwo days’ notice, he’s headed to sunny California to\nmeet with Jesse and\ndrive to also sunny Utah. There he will watch several independent\nfilms and attend several parties and just in general do a lot of\nschmoozing. I know it will be great and he’ll have plenty\nto talk about.

\n

Stargate, Inc. sells\ndomain names for only eight dollars a year. If you want one,\nthey’re so cheap it’s almost worth grabbing a couple.\nJon nabbed normalform.com again. I’m mulling over getting\none myself. The other Grant lists several interesting domain names\nthat have no owner.

\n

My room now has the bed and television switched, among other\nthings. Right in time for me to fly home this Monday! Now I can\nfinally finish setting up my new room and sit back to enjoy it\nfor an hour or so.

\n

Austin and I made\na pizza at Jon's house last night. I said “bake” and\nhe said “broil”. The jury is still out on that, but I\nstill think that it came out well after being baked for about\neighteen minutes. What do you want on your Tombstone? We had pepperoni.

\n", "date_published": "2003-01-16T13:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2003/01/16/long-week-this.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2003/01/09/bicycles-thats-all.html", "content_html": "

Bicycles

\n

That’s all you see at the Super Wal-Mart up on Danforth\nin Edmond, OK. Just go there\nand check it out. It seems like an entire quarter of the store\nhas bikes hanging from the ceiling. I don’t know what the\ndeal is. I guess Christmas was filled with sedentary gifts this\nseason.

\n

The movie has been shot. Not like with a gun but like with a\nArriflex Camera (made in Western Germany). Everything went well,\nalthough we stayed up until 5:00 finishing. We even ordered a\npizza at 2 in the morning from a place that offers baklava and\nmilkshake delivery as well.

\n

We watched the entire movie Backdraft between the first and second\nshots of the day, thus creating the new unit of time, the\nbackdraft, equal to 132 minutes. We spent 7.5 backdrafts filming.\nYou do the math.

\n

I shot two hours of behind-the-scenes video footage and took\nabout three hundred photos, which I just uploaded to my computer.\nNeedless to say this was a well-documented venture.

\n

The day after shooting, Jon, Austin, Lauren, Jesse, Farah, and\nI ate at the Chuck House, the best place to get a Chicken Fried\nSteak Dinner for about five dollars. Yes, five dollars. You know\nit’s quality when you have to order over a telephone at\nyour table. For some reason, Jesse's phone was wired to the\nPA system. Farah played\nsome early electronic music for me in the car and after we saw\nher off, the rest of us waited about thirty minutes in a\nWalgreen’s parking lot as Jesse complained to the managers\nand whoever about the scratched negatives on his pictures.

\n

After that I had dinner with Stephanie at Ted’s\nCafé Escondido, the best place to eat in Oklahoma\nCity. This ’hidden cafe” has the best Mexican food\nyou can find, which would blow the minds of the New England types\nI’m consistently surrounded by. It also blew my insides\nwhen mixed with a Chicken Fried Steak Dinner. Well, not really,\nbut that’s a lot of food for one night.

\n

My grandmother came down yesterday to help us move stuff\nbetween my old room and my new upstairs room. Now all\nthat’s left is to do is move my bed and put a million\nthings in their places.

\n", "date_published": "2003-01-09T13:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2003/01/09/bicycles-thats-all.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2003/01/03/documentration-im-filming.html", "content_html": "

Documentration

\n

I'm filming the behind-the-scenes documentary for Jon’s new short\nentitled “Jeremy”. Today I spent from 11 am to 3 am\nshooting both production stills and video of the production\nprocess. I also helped the grips and others with various odd\njobs. It's been quite an adventurous day.

\n

I woke up today at 10 am which is about five hours earlier\nthan I usually wake up. I then followed that with sixteen\nstraight hours of working on the film. Needless to say I am\nsomewhat tired.

\n

Jon really pulled out all the stops and is shooting his latest\nshort with a full professional film crew. The lead actress was in\nMiss Congeniality as Miss Tennessee, and has been featured in several other\nfilms. It is a pleasure and privilege to work with her. The\nlead actor met Jon through Jon’s parent's church\nconnections and is a stage actor who is doing splendidly in his\nfirst on-screen performance.

\n

Tomorrow will be the second and final gruelling day of\nfilming. And to think I really only had less than twenty-four\nhours notice that I would be on the crew!

\n", "date_published": "2003-01-03T13:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2003/01/03/documentration-im-filming.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/12/30/monkey-ball-these.html", "content_html": "

Monkey ball

\n

These two words have dominated the previous week. As Jon was\nout of town, the gang and I have found it necessary to find new\nplaces to hang out. Monkey Ball and Monkey Ball 2, both by SEGA and for the Nintendo GameCube, have been\ncrowd favorites. Anyone who’s buying any GameCube games\nanytime soon, get three for the price of two over at Amazon using\n\nthis coupon. Just thought you should know.

\n

Well Christmas happened. If you ask Austin, and I know you\nwill, there were two christmases. “Christmas\n2” was at Jesse's dad's house. And yes, they are Jewish, so\nit really wasn't Christmas at all, but this is Austin we're\ntalking about. Anyway, Austin, Jiongyi, and I ate an\neighteen-pound turkey over there (not seventeen-pound as earlier\nadvertised). A@ron, Jesse’s brother, continually called\nJiongyi “TC”, since he only ever knew of TC. Anyway\neventually a ton of gravy spilled onto Jesse and, well, that\nchanged the course of dinner substantially. Check out the picture\nfrom Austin’s site, “and\nthen...”.

\n

Other than that we held a more traditional Christmas at my\nhouse this year, albeit traditional doesn’t describe this\none well. My cousin Nick played guitar, my brother Jon or I would\nplay bass guitar, and my brother Kyle or I would play drums as\nNick, my mother, or at one point a good portion of my aunts would\nsing the lyrics to Nirvana’s “In Bloom”. Yes,\nreally. On Christmas.

\n

If you want to be all superficial about Christmas, I got\nclothes and money. For once I realize that these are really what\nI want.

\n

My life is slowly being sucked away by Linux. I have been\noptimizing my Gentoo Linux\ninstallation a lot over the last few days. Gentoo is wonderful. I\ncompiled everything, starting with the compiler, so I know each\nprogram is fully optimized for my system. Also, installation is a\nbreeze since I only need type emerge\n<progname> in order to install anything. Once I can\nfind a way to update my web site in Linux, there will be a lot\nmore updates to this site.

\n

Last night we played poker to celebrate Jon’s return\nfrom Seattle. Everyone was there and we started out with 5 draw\nand 7 stud. After a while we tired of throwing around so many\ncards and instead settled on Texas\nHold’em. I highly suggest Texas Hold’em as a more\npleasurable poker experience.

\n

I’m going to make a DJ mix. I think I might burn it to a\nCD. I might even give out a few copies. I don’t know.

\n", "date_published": "2002-12-30T13:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/12/30/monkey-ball-these.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/12/22/back-home-oklahoma.html", "content_html": "

Back home.

\n

Oklahoma, that is. I’ve seen a bunch of people so far. I\nhaven’t seen Erin, Jim, and Heather for quite a while. We\nhaven’t done much yet. Jon Denmark went to Washington, which has created a\npower vacuum as no one knows whose house to go to anymore.\nI’ve invited a bunch of people over here tomorrow.

\n

My brother Jon and I traded rooms today. I now live upstairs\nand have inherited a conglomerated mess of old things that have\npassed down from me to Kyle to Jon and back to me. Sifting\nthrough old things has revealed lots of things like the prissy little journal book that my\npiano teacher gave to me years ago and has been sitting in the\nbottom drawer for nearly a decade.

\n

Also found today was the VTech Video Painter. This device\nallows one to draw on his television. Tucker and I used it to make movies\nback in about fourth grade. Such classics as\n“Spacekids—The Final Generation”, “Jon:\nThe Movie starring Jon Hutchins” and “Spacekids\nII—Journey to Triethyl” captivated audiences of my\nimmediate family and neighbor friends for many years. We would\ndraw each frame and then record it onto the VCR, adding a\nsoundtrack later on a cassette tape. Well beyond our years.\nPerhaps the most epic of them all was “Giraffic\nPark”.

\n

Every time I come back from Olin Jiongyi,\nAustin, and I talk about\nplaying poker. Maybe it will happen tomorrow. Stay tuned.

\n

Jon, Jesse, and crew are working on filming a short. Watch for\nit. It involves mystery, death, blood, and deception. In fact you\nmight say it involves \nMurderous Deception. Be sure not to miss it.

\n

Jim wanted me to write about how we went to go see the new skate park but didn’t\nskate on it and also how we went to the \nTaco Cabana and also how we went to go eat dinner tonight at\nthe Delta Cafe and ate\nfor free because Erin works there. I had my beloved Fried Corn on the Cob.\nHappy, Jim?

\n", "date_published": "2002-12-22T13:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/12/22/back-home-oklahoma.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/12/18/jesse-my-photographer.html", "content_html": "

Jesse, my photographer friend, has a photograph of me from a\nfew years ago up on his site, Painting Light. Go check\nit out. It’s the one entitled “Breathe”. There\nare a couple of Jon as\nwell.

\n", "date_published": "2002-12-18T13:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/12/18/jesse-my-photographer.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/12/17/oklahoma-in-days.html", "content_html": "

Oklahoma in 2 days

\n

I poked around on the Internet a lot these last few days of\nfreshman semester I. The first oddity I came across was Splorp. I have been thinking of\ndoing an independent study / passionate pursuit (as\nwe call them) on typography. Essentially I’ve been\nconsidering designing my own font and getting some side credit\nfor it. Well after casually browsing I found this Splorp site\nwhich is a blog of a certain Grant Hutchinson. Grant Hutchinson\nwho has made fonts and is interested in several things I am also\ninterested in. Grant Hutchinson who brags that he is number\none when you search for \n“Grant Hutchinson” on Google. It so turns out\nthat I am the number one result for the \n“Grant Hutchins” search on Google. Needless to\nsay he will be receiving an email in his inbox shortly relating\nto this matter.

\n

The scary thing is that this isn’t the first time\nI’ve run into this strange \ndoppelganger phenomenon. A few years back when I was\nconsidering becoming a Japanese translator, I found a Grant\nHutchins who lives in Oregon and is a Japanese translator.\nNeedless to say I feel less unique when I find these people.

\n

Another oddity I’ve found is this shoddy \ncollege report on medieval British literature that stole the\nimage of Olin’s campus. Why did this person decide to steal\nan image from our website and reassign the Academic Center as a\n\nBeowulf museum? Since when is the Campus Center a shrine to\nKing Lear? And\nthe Olin Center as an archive of information on Arthurian Legend?\nLaughable at best!

\n

Other than that I’ve just been sticking to pages like Sharpeworld and Coudal Partners for wasting\ntime. The links here are marvelous. I’ve also been visiting\nPlep a little bit, but not as\nmuch as much of the content isn’t personally that\ninteresting to me. One recent favorite is the Japanese\npark animals gallery.

\n

Back in reality I’m finishing up my finals. All I\nhave left is my Differential Equations exam.

\n

Somehow I busted up my laptop. Thanks to Dell’s great\nservice plan that I have bought into through my college, however, I have\ngotten, for free, a completely new plastic shell, touchpad, and\nmotherboard for my laptop. And all just because my USB port was\nbusted. No questions asked. I feel spoiled, but I am paying for\nit I guess.

\n", "date_published": "2002-12-17T13:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/12/17/oklahoma-in-days.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/12/12/where-to-start.html", "content_html": "

Where to start?

\n

Yesterday I went to the WBCN\nXmas Rave Moby show at the\nParadise Rock\nClub in Boston, MA. He billed it as a show in which he will\nbe playing older songs in his journal. I was quite excited to get\nto hear some of the earlier more electronic songs. I found that\nthis really wasn’t the case, however. The only old songs he\nplayed that he usually wouldn’t were “That’s\nWhen I Reach For My Revolver” and “Next is the\nE”. After playing a couple songs, he came out and said,\n“We have a goal for tonight. We’re going to play the\nlongest show we ever have,” which was met by much applause.\nI was quite close to the stage. So close, in fact, that Moby\nhimself stepped on my hand. I was right in front of two of the\nsubwoofers and essentially leaning on them as Moby would jump up\non it and play his guitar in such a manner that I would have to\nlook directly up to see him. I was jumping up and down a lot, and\nhad to watch the height so I wouldn’t bump into his…\ncrotch. He stepped on my hand at one point and might have been\npointing to me as I was jumping. Anyway Dan and I had a lot of\nfun. Dan was especially happy when Moby left and came back in a\ncheaply made shirt with iron-on letters that spell “COVER\nBAND”. Moby covered about ten of Dan’s favorite\nclassic rock songs, some in different styles. Read about it on my\nnew concerts page.

\n

Anyway, after the show Dan and I waited around with the hope\nthat Moby would come out and meet us or that something else\ninteresting would happen. While waiting around I noticed that\nMoby’s beloved carrot juice was sitting on stage. I\nwondered if they would give it to us if we asked, half-jokingly.\nDan pulled a roadie aside and said “Hey will you give us\nthat carrot juice? It was his birthday,” to which the man\nresponded, “You really want his backwashed carrot\njuice?!” Needless to say we received said carrot juice,\nwhich is now sitting in my room. It’s in a Dasani bottle.

\n

This morning I checked Moby’s online journal to see if\nhe had mentioned the idiotic jumping fan in front of him at the\nshow or the fact that his carrot juice was missing, and instead I\nlearned that after the show he had been attacked by three\n“preppy” men “with mace” who punched him\nin the face for no apparent reason. This comes as quite a shock,\nbut Moby is not mad and did not fight back. Such is his\nstyle.

\n

Just a few minutes ago I learned that the lead\nsinger / Moog player / trombonist for\nStereolab, Mary Hansen,\nhas \ndied in a freak bicycle accident. I am glad that Stereolab\ngot to reason as much music as they did, something like an album\na year for a full decade. I am quite impressed by their wide\nassortment, and have several of their limited edition vinyl\nsingles. Every single they release comes in limited edition\nversions. I had the fortune to attend their recent show in Boston\nat the Avalon, one of\nthe only shows that resulted in a double encore. I read\na funny review\nof this show once, calling mine the “lamest crowd”\never for Stereolab. I thought it was quite laid back, and this\nreviewer thought it was rowdy. This shows the disparity between\nthe shows the two of us are used to.

\n
\n
December 13, 2002
\n
Actually, Mary Hansen was the\nvocalist /  guitarist. Laetitia Sadier is the lead\nsinger / Moog player /  trombonist.\nPardon my mistake.
\n
\n", "date_published": "2002-12-12T13:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/12/12/where-to-start.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/12/10/no-more-teenagehood.html", "content_html": "

No more teenagehood.

\n

My twentieth birthday was yesterday. It was one of the busier\ndays I’ve had in a while, but it was nice that a few people\ndid something for me! First at the Math Table showing of Good Will Hunting,\nProf. Sarah Spence brought some cupcakes and even some salsa and\nchips. Much appreciated! After that I retired to my room around\n11:30 p.m. and discovered that my bed was covered with balloons.\nThere was a jar of silly string sitting next to my bed, and no\none to be found anywhere. I wandered down the hall and ran into\nNicole and Kathleen realizing they had missed their chance to\nsurprise me. They had been waiting in my room for over an hour\nand went to look for me. Dan had no idea and was in the other\nroom.

\n

I went bowling the other day at Lanes and Games. I have been\nimproving considerably lately. The second of two games resulted\nin a tie of my personal record. With just 100 in the 8th frame, I\nhit a strike on the 9th, strike on the 10th, third strike to make\nperhaps my first turkey in my life, and then rounded it out with\nseven more to make 157. I didn’t get the Ms. Pac-Man high\nscore, however.

\n

My cohort project course has completed. I feel that we could\nhave done better on our design, but we did find a good amount of\nsuccess. Our crowning achievement is that we spent only 6.5% of\nour budget. One of our goals at the outset was to set an example\nfor thriftiness.

\n

Similarly, all my other classes are winding to a close. A week\nfrom Thursday I’ll be flying back to Oklahoma for a full\nmonth. Not a full-month flight, but a full-month vacation. I just\nrealized that I used “winding down” to describe my\nclasses in the last post. I’m not very creative lately\nafter all!

\n

I was perusing the Coudal\nPartners website the other day and wandered onto the Photoshop Tennis\ncompetitions. The idea is that two designers representing\ndifferent design groups send Photoshop “volleys” back\nand forth (spending approx. 30 mins–2 hours per volley) and\nthen editing what comes back. The evolution of these graphics is\nquite interesting and often unexpected. One of my favorites is\nthe transition from \nthis to \nthis. Anyway, I’ve challenged Jesus Fernandez to\na little sparring match. Watch for this sometime soon.

\n

The other day I became very interested in abandoned\nsubway tunnels, tracks, and stations in the Boston area. I\nhave been learning about parts of the MBTA\n“T” subway system are no longer running,\nincluding an elevated train\ncalled the “El” that used to run near Washington\nAve up until the 1980s. It is being replaced by the new Silver Line. Anyway\nit makes me want to go visit an abandoned train station, although\nthat would probably be a very bad idea.

\n", "date_published": "2002-12-10T13:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/12/10/no-more-teenagehood.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/12/06/today-im-feeling.html", "content_html": "

Today I’m feeling creative. Maybe it’s the great\namount of light outside reflecting off of the snow. Maybe\nit’s the fact that my classes are winding down. Maybe\nnot.

\n

Today my Moby tickets arrived! Moby is holding a concert this\nWednesday at the Paradise Rock\nClub in Boston. This is where I saw Fountains of Wayne a\ncouple weekends back. This should prove to be a good show,\nbecause Moby \nmentioned in his online journal that he is going to play his\nolder more electronic songs. He’ll also have been off tour\nfor a week at home in New York City, so he should be even more\nenergetic than ever. Moby is also not only the headliner, but the\nonly act playing. This means he will get all sorts of\ntime to try new things and wow the crowd. Plus, the Paradise is\nsuch a cozy venue, where it’s literally impossible to stand\nmore than about 30 feet from the stage. The show was sold out\nright after I decided to go, so I perused eBay for \npeople reselling tickets. However, I found them pricey, so I\nemailed a guy \nwhose auction didn’t sell and made him an offer and now\nhave two tickets in my possession.

\n

I went to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving. The first night ended in\na controversy that lead Jon, Austin, and I to leave\nRima’s birthday party. That’s all I will say for now.\nLater that week, I bought a Korg\nElectribe EM-1 Music Production Station, a type of half-drum\nmachine half-synthesizer little sound unit, at Mars Music, which is going\nout of business and having a huge sale. I literally watched it\nget marked down from 30% to 40% off. That’s like 40 bucks\nless. My brothers and I are going to form a band and try to\nrecord some music over Christmas break. Jon plays bass and\n(increasingly) guitar, while Kyle plays drums.

\n

I’ve been sleeping a lot lately. My naps are dominating\nmy days now. I’ve got to learn to stay awake.

\n

My mom enters a lot of contests (or “sweeps”, if\nyou’re so inclined). She wins about four or five contests a\nmonth now! The most significant prize won is an MP3 player. Now\nshe’s got me hooked on Lee Dungarees Pants\nof Chance. This is the best slot machine ever. Free credits,\nand you might win oysters or tube socks. What could be\nbetter?!

\n

Fear the Clown named\none of my songs Song of the Day a couple weeks ago. Three of my\nfriends used to be in a band named (at times) Pivot and (at other\ntimes) Shamespiral.\nI wrote a little ambient song entitled (creatively)\n“Shamespiral Intro” that was used to introduce their\nfinal two shows. I’ll throw it up on my Grant Music page in a bit.

\n

I’ve added some pictures to my Grant Pictures page.

\n
\n

I’m about to go to bed so I can take the Putnam Exam tomorrow. The\nsnow everywhere reflects the moonlight and makes it feel like\nday. This will be an adventure. I prefer to sleep in total\nsensory deprivation myself.

\n", "date_published": "2002-12-06T13:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/12/06/today-im-feeling.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/12/03/dont-worry-ill.html", "content_html": "

Don’t worry. I’ll post up here really\nsoon! With a lot of new material, including details of my\ntrip back to Oklahoma. I promise. And yes, I have stories to\ntell!

\n", "date_published": "2002-12-03T13:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/12/03/dont-worry-ill.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/11/17/i-bet-you.html", "content_html": "

I bet you didn’t know that \nJFK did\ncocaine.

\n
\n
December 10, 2002
\n
No one pointed out to me that it said\nprocaine and codeine, not cocaine. Man, you’d think someone\nwould catch that when it was only one line to read and one link\nto click. Especially with such a controversial subject. Oh well,\nI’m sure JFK did cocaine as\nwell.
\n
\n", "date_published": "2002-11-17T13:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/11/17/i-bet-you.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/11/11/im-sitting-at.html", "content_html": "

11/11

\n

I’m sitting at my desk sipping an Orange Slice. \nNewton’s Principia was stolen the other day. I\nguess they let anyone request it and put their grimy paws on it.\nSomeone’s grimy paws were sticky this time.

\n

I’ve had the busiest weekend imaginable! It all started\nFriday (as weekends usually do) when I left with Nicole, Jesus,\nand (note the change in roster) Kori Haymore, one of the new\nstudents. We went to the \nIpswich River Wildlife Sanctuary of the Massachusetts Audubon\nSociety. It was very nice. We stayed in the Innermost Cabin,\nwhich was barely enough to fit four people and a Franklin stove.\nWe walked around a bit and then sat by the fire and kerosene\nlamps reading the journal entries from previous guests. Of\nparticular interest were the horror stories by various\neleven-year-old children. My favorite was “Werewolf\nMan” although “Pigmonkeyman” was also a\nfavorite. I’ll post fulltext up here soon.

\n

The next morning I got back from Ipswich with less than 15\nminutes to go before once again leaving to go to the only proper\nbowling alley in all Boston. It turns out that New England has\nits own special type of bowling called Candlepin Bowling that\nseems inferior. The balls are smaller and the pins are simple\ncylinders. Hardly engaging! Anyway I got my best three game\nseries in my life. I’m launching a new section of my page devoted to bowling\nscores. This may sound odd, but I’ve wanted to do this for\nabout five years now. I got 137, 128 and 149. 149 was the best\ngame of the night and my second best score ever, although the\nbest average score goes to Emma Goodman, an IMSA girl from the\ngreat bowling state of Illinois. The last game was quite eventful\nin that I hit the first 50 pins down without a slip. Four spares\nand one strike.

\n

Later that night back at Olin we held a Dead or Alive 3\ntournament in the Dining Hall on the big projected screen. The\nscene was quite impressive, quite larger than life. I’m not\na big fan of 3D fighting games or the X-Box in general so I\nmerely spectated. Afterwards I felt nostalgic so I downloaded\nMAME in order to play Galaga. Well worth my trouble.

\n

The next morning I woke up to attend a five-hour session on\nthe traditional Japanese board game Go. I am starting to enjoy it\nmore and perhaps I will get better at it. It is perhaps the most\ncomplicated game I know and there’s no chance for me (or\nany human or even a computer) to ever master the game. The best\nGo-playing computers can’t beat twelve-year-olds. Go was\nheavily featured in the movie Pi: Faith in Chaos which is\ncoincidentally my favorite movie.

\n

Right after that I took my take-home physics final in what\nwould turn out to be the only three-hour patch of free time for\nthe weekend. Keep in mind it’s already Sunday by this\npoint. I had to hurry up and finish the exam (which I felt I did\nquite well on, even though there were many little details to\nconsider).

\n

I really wanted to go to the local Mars Music store because they\nare going out of business nationwide. Everything must go! Prices\nmarked down 20-40%! That means a lot for musical equipment! That\ncan make or break so many potential sales! My mom and I were\ntalking about buying an electric guitar so that we can complete\nthe newest boy band craze at home, Hutchins. Hutchins is like\nHanson except instead of being from Tulsa, OK, we are from\nEdmond, OK. No difference. Except shorter hair. Anyway it turns\nout that both locations near me were in the list of four stores\nnationwide that have already closed, so I didn’t get to go\nrun around crazily and pick out items like candy. Oh, bother.

\n

The weekend ended on a wonderful note when I went with Sheeva to the Fountains of Wayne\nconcert. It was at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston on Comm Ave.\nThis venue is great! I highly recommend it! The place is so small\nand cozy and right when I walked into the auditorium I found\nmyself right in the center only 6 or 7 people back. I stayed\nthere and danced with Sheeva the whole time, often to an extent\nmuch greater than that of the considerably older populace about\nus. While there I bumped into Que Anh and Erin McCusker, both of\nwhom had accompanied Alex Valdivia. This means that 7.5% of our\nschool was there. I got there an hour after doors opened and I\ncompletely missed the first act, OKGo. I should have known Que\nAnh would come since she is obsessed with them. The show ended\nrelatively early but started relatively early as well. I knew\nevery song except for the ones that are on the new album. The\nverdict on the new material? Fountains of Wayne are coming back\nfor more in their third release due out this spring, moving in a\nmore experimental direction while continuing to capture the\nfamiliar catchiness and heart of their earlier work. By the way,\nnothing beats the final piano of “Leave the Biker”.\nIt sent shivers down my spine. After the second (!) encore I\ngrabbed a nice brown shirt that says simply “FoW” and\ngot back home with a good amount of time to goof around and then\nget a good night of sleep.

\n

Keep in mind that I am also sick and this last weekend was met\nwith much coughing. I’ve vowed to slow down my plans this\nweek and let this finally subside.

\n", "date_published": "2002-11-11T13:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/11/11/im-sitting-at.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/11/05/pretty-much-everything.html", "content_html": "

Pretty much everything is done!

\n

Not really, but I don’t have much to do anymore. I got\nmy EC lab written up.

\n

In other news, our Project class is wrapping up with the ASME\nramp project and moving on to new projects because we feel that\nwe should be covering more material than we are. I am currently\nbrainstorming some project ideas, including one that might\ninvolve developing a product with Jay Gantz to possibly try to\nget to market. Depends on how ambitious I’m feeling. We\nhave a good idea that might be profitable, or might not even be\npossible. We’re through with calculus in my Mathematical\nFoundations in Engineering I course, so now we’re starting\nDifferential Equations. I am quite happy for that, as I\nhaven’t really had any new math for three years now.

\n

Dan Frey, the Professor for our Project class, recently\ndecided to leave Olin and go to MIT to head a high-profile design\nclass that involves robots and some sort of competitive edge. It\noften makes it onto television shows like Scientific American\nFrontiers. The MIT course has previously been run by Woodie\nFlowers, who used to host Scientific American Frontiers and is\ncurrently shared by both Olin and MIT. We’ll all miss Dan\nbut it sounds like a wonderful opportunity that he definitely\ndeserves.

\n

Sheeva and I are going to the Fountains of Wayne\nconcert on Sunday! Fountains of Wayne are great. Every song\nI’ve ever heard from them sticks in my head and I know all\nthe lyrics even though I don’t try.

\n

Also, today Nicole invited me to go with Jesus and Kathleen to\na cabin in Ipswich for Friday night. I think it should be fun.\nI’ve never been to Ipswich and frankly I’m not sure\nwhere it is. It’s an hour away.

\n
\n
November 11, 2002
\n
But Kathleen was busy so Kori ended up\ncoming instead. Why is this important? I have this strange\nobsession with who is with me and where they are situated in\nrelation to me. I often have dreams where I can only remember\nsitting with a group of people at a table. I remember where each\nperson sat and somehow it seems quite important to me. Just one\nof those things.
\n
\n

In other words, I am quite busy this weekend and I’ll\nget a Physics test tomorrow that’s due Monday. I hopefully\nwill get it done tomorrow night. Then there’s the Calculus\ntest I get tomorrow as well, but isn’t due until Wednesday.\nIt all compounds.

\n", "date_published": "2002-11-05T13:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/11/05/pretty-much-everything.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/10/31/will-everything-ever.html", "content_html": "

Will everything ever be done?

\n

I have shown up approximately 2 minutes late to each and every\nclass this week, which is quite embarrassing. I also haven't been\ngetting much sleep. Oh well. I'm getting all my work done, even\nif it means spending four evenings out of my week trying to get\ndata for my silly\nlab.

\n

Nicole and I are\ncurrently trying to measure the temperature of a hot plate and a\ncup of water being heated by the hot plate. We wrote a program in\nMATLAB\nthat measures the temperature and then controls the hot plate so\nthat the water ends up at exactly 50 degrees\nCelsius.

\n

Other than that, I'm leaving for the Big Apple late tomorrow\nnight. I'm excited because Tucker and I are going to a really\nnice Mexican restaurant. Dan, Tucker, and I went to Taco Bell\nafter the Area 2 show and it was like manna sent from heaven.\nOther than that we don't get much Mexican food up here. When I\nsay that, however, I am lying through my\nteeth. Our dining hall makes some really good tacos and nachos and\nwhatnot, as per our request. We have the freaking best dining\nhall on the planet.

\n

\nJam Master Jay was killed today. He was influential in early\n80s hip-hop and as the DJ for \nRun-DMC helped pioneer much of what music is like today. He\nwas not a gangster/thug/idiot. He leaves behind a wife and three\nchildren. It comes as a shock to see him go, as there seems to be\nno reason for anyone to have a grudge against him. He was shot\nwhile in the recording studio. News stories compare it to Tupac and\nNotorious B.I.G. but there really is no comparison, as those\ntwo had lifestyles that put\ntheir lives at risk anyway.

\n", "date_published": "2002-10-31T13:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/10/31/will-everything-ever.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/10/29/hey-k-sitting.html", "content_html": "

hey! k. sitting.

\n

Austin made an AI bot for AIM. You can talk to him\nand he will spit out a mish-mash of words that other people have\nsaid to him. IM him at A35U. If it says anything\noffensive, don't blame Austin. It only says what it learns from\nother people.

\n

I'm writing some C code to prove to the EC professors that I\ncan program and therefore don't need to sit through the C\nlectures. Sounds good to me! The program takes the numbers 1-9 in\norder and using only the operators + and * finds the value 2002.\nFor instance, \"1+23+456*7*89\"\nequals something that isn't 2002, but if it did then my program\nwould show that it works. Anyway they're having us write it in emacs in\nLinux. What better way to\nprogram than in a foreign text editor on a foreign operating\nsystem.

\n

Tonight I'm going to the CS Discussion Group, which\nmeets weekly. We discuss computer science type stuff. Last week I\nwas the host and did a presentation on\nsecurity.

\n

Other than that I need to pack for New York and get music\nready for the big Olin Halloween party this Friday night. I'm the\nDJ.

\n
\n

You know what's cool? This is. Watch the \nFull Live Demo if you have twenty minutes to burn. Jon D.,\nyou'll like this. I entered to win the contest. Everyone enter\nthe contest and if you win, give it to me and I'll write you a\nsong and name it after you. Also, if you want to donate $1795 to\nthe Get Grant an MC-909 Groovebox fund, I'd be much obliged.

\n", "date_published": "2002-10-29T13:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/10/29/hey-k-sitting.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/10/28/another-day-another.html", "content_html": "

Another day, another dollar.

\n

I'm eating Trader Joe's Shredded Bite Size Wheats while\nwaiting my turn for the shower. I'm about to go to Project class\nwith Dan Frey where I'm going to work with my team on our design\nfor the \nASME Design Competition. The contest is to see how much rice\nwe can move up a ramp by using only the energy from 2 liters of\nwater that drain out of a \nbucket about a meter or so off the ground.

\n

Anyway, I'll get into more detail later, as Dan (Lindquist\nthis time) is now getting out of the shower.

\n
\n

Yesterday Jon Denmark\nwas talking to me about how he had just learned that his\ngrandparents read his webpage. Not more than two hours later my\ndad called to check up on me and offhand mentioned that my\ngrandparents read my webpage. On the same day.

\n
\n

I'm thinking about going to the Fountains of Wayne\nshow a week from this Sunday. Their music has been in my head for\nthe last two 24-hour cycles. I sent out an email to Sheeva and\nBrian so I could catch up with my webpage's two greatest (only?)\nfans. I'm gonna see Sheeva in a couple weeks which is good since\nit's been forever. I just got an email from good ol'\nBrian Morrow. I've been catching up with him and he's doing good.\nHe's inspiring me to start an Olin academic team. I think we need\none, and I'm ready to start it and be captain if need be.

\n

Other than that I'm reading Richard Wright's Black Boy\nfor my Bodies in Motion class. Aiee! I have to read 384\npages. Oh well at least I enjoy it.

\n", "date_published": "2002-10-28T13:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/10/28/another-day-another.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/10/26/theres-a-lot.html", "content_html": "

There's a lot going on, but also not much.

\n

I'm going to NYC next\nweekend with Kathleen (Dupaya). I'm going to meet up with my good\nfriend Tucker, who\ngoes to Columbia\nUniversity. I'm very excited because on Saturday night I will\nbe seeing the Chemical\nBrothers! The Chemmies are the number one ultimate best most\nwanted band for me to go see in concert ever, so hopefully this\nwill be good. I've already missed the opportunity to see their\nshows four times. While I was in Paris, they played two shows in\nLondon. While I was in London, they played a show in Paris. They\nhad their first US tour\nin three years, but only came as close as New York. I planned a\ntrip to go down to see them, but then couldn't find a ticket\nafter they sold out. Now, finally, they are playing another final\nshow in New York. (The only show only according to their\nitinerary) This means that this show is some sort of special\noccasion, so I won't be seeing them in the tour mode where\nthey're playing shows each night. Hmm, sounds like a good\nopportunity to debut some new material, eh?

\n

Save Karyn. Don't save Karyn.

\n

I just got back from the Knight Party at Pepsico Gymnasium. I\ndon't know why it's a Knight party when it's not at Knight\nAuditorium, but it is. That's Babson for ya. Anyway I had fun\nuntil they played Rednex's \"Cottoneye Joe\". Whoever wrote that\nsong should be shot! I refuse to dance to it.

\n
\n
October 29, 2002
\n
My mom reminded me that \"Cotton-eyed Joe\"\nis an old song that's been around for centuries and has been\nrecorded many times over the years. Let's all hope the next\nperson who does makes a much better song than, shudder,\nRednex.
\n
\n

I'm DJing a party at Olin this weekend (right before I leave\nfor New York). I think I'll play some U96 and a track or two from Fatboy\nSlim's \"On\nthe Floor at the Boutique\" mix album. It's always good to\nplay good\nhas-been music.

\n", "date_published": "2002-10-26T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/10/26/theres-a-lot.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/11/10/everythings-on-the.html", "content_html": "

Everything's on the up and up.

\n

Right now I'm in between classes. This morning I had my Arts\nand Humanities course, \"Bodies in Motion\", which is all about\nimmigration and stuff like that. It's really great to learn about\nearly 1900s life. I also like having a class with Babson students (and a Babson\nprofessor) in it.

\n

Later this afternoon I have Engineering Computing, which is\na course all about using computers to receive inputs and control\nthings. Our homework last night was to write programs that record\nsound and then play it back. We also made some that are triggered\nby clapping. This should be one of my favorite courses this year.\nWe're going to do other things like control hot plates based on\nthe temperature and stuff like that.

\n

Yesterday my team of four started building a structure for our\n\nASME\nDesign Contest courses. In other words, we are all operating\ndangerous machinery. I'm now trained on the circular saw, jigsaw,\ndrill, and router. I must say I enjoy it, although I can really\ntell that I'm going to be an ECE\nmajor.

\n

Over the weekend I went into Boston proper, or actually\nCambridge I guess. While in the land of the Cantabrigian we\nfrequented the Tower Records in Harvard Square. They have a\nsection of singles (almost half of which are imports) that are\npriced quite surprisingly low, so I picked up about 5 or 6 CDs\neach under 3 dollars. That's less than the price of an album\nnowadays it seems. I also bought an Atari Teenage Riot vinyl EP\nand a couple of DVDs, namely Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy and\nthe Prodigy's new video \"Baby's Got a Temper\".

\n

And all day long I listen to Radio FG.

\n

For now, it's lunch time!

\n", "date_published": "2002-09-10T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/11/10/everythings-on-the.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/09/03/anyway-hopefully-ill.html", "content_html": "

Anyway, hopefully I'll post a new message up here when I have\nsomething more positive to report. I have done many great and fun\nthings lately. Also I hope to have a pictures section soon.

\n

Things are hectic.

\n

I haven't had a break in ten days. Yes, ten days. I think it\nwill be better by this weekend, but I literally have only had\nabout 24 hours of free time so far, and they have been spent\nclimbing a mountain.

\n

Not that I'm trying to sound too negative here. I'm just\ninvolved in a lot of things right now. It should taper off pretty\nsoon. But it's just that I'm not completely unpacked yet and I've\nlived here for ten days.

\n

I'm going to speak with my professors about my workload,\nalthough I do think it's getting more reasonable.

\n", "date_published": "2002-09-03T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/09/03/anyway-hopefully-ill.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/09/01/no-more-complaining.html", "content_html": "

No more complaining.

\n

I've actually updated my site! Unfortunately this is one of\nthose crappy updates where I cop out and say I'm really busy and\ncan't update nearly as often. Maybe I will move away from the\nnews model and go more towards random pages of random content. I\nthink that would be more fulfilling. If I'm really ambitious I'll\ndo a weekly update.

\n

But don't count on it, I have physics homework.

\n", "date_published": "2002-09-01T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/09/01/no-more-complaining.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/08/23/move-in-day.html", "content_html": "

Move in day is tomorrow!

\n

People are arriving in droves. The anticipation is building.\nSweat is forming on everyone's brow.

\n
\n
September 1, 2001
\n
...and right then I lost the connection\nto my webspace. I've only just now been able to get back on. I\nknow, I know. It's horrible. Well live with it, I'm starting\nschool again.
\n
\n", "date_published": "2002-08-23T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/08/23/move-in-day.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/08/22/two-more-days.html", "content_html": "

Two more days.

\n

For lunch I had McDonald's.\nIt was fun. I hadn't been in awhile. I ordered the Double\nCheeseburger Meal, confusing it for the Two Cheeseburger\nMeal. I guess I'm just that unobservant, at least at McDonald's.\nI've been using ketchup on my fries again lately. I went many\nyears with no\nketchup. It was somewhat nice to taste the potatoes more. Now\nketchup is exciting again, however. I enjoy it. I guess that's\nthe secret to enjoying life. Artificially prevent yourself from\ndoing something, then do it after a long enough delay. It makes\nlife more interesting.

\n

Today I was all over the place. From the (old) ECE Lab to\nthe (fake) IT\nroom on the (real) campus, I ran around with the \nLinux Posse. The Linux Posse is Gill, Brian, Ben, and I. We\nstormed on into IT and told them how to\npartition the machines. We were quite the vigilantes, I must say.\nI also met Aaron, the new Linux/Unix admin. Well anyway we had\ntrouble figuring out how to do it, so I gave up and left.

\n

While I was up there, I helped Adam and Rod move Jesus and\nAdam's big table to its final resting place. The table is filled\nwith memorabilia from last year. Jesus joking said he could make\nanything (including a coffeetable)\nfor his art project last year. Well, it morphed quickly from\na joke to actuality, and it's a beauty. The History and Mystery\nof Mars - Episode 4 is on there, as is the tiny vase Adina\ngave me before she had to return to Transylvania.

\n

I saw the first new students arriving today, Ben Bloom and\nMikell Taylor. There will be a large flood of people coming in\ntomorrow. Joy! Both the emotion, and the Olin student.

\n

I'm going camping! The Olin Outing Club is going\nto stay the night up on the border between New\nHampshire and Maine. Afterwards will be a hike up some\nmountain, which I may or may not do, considering my strange\nshallow breath syndrome.

\n

Cough, cough.

\n

I packed a ton of stuff today. Tomorrow I'll finish up the\nlittle things, and the next day I'm out of temporary housing once\nand for all!

\n", "date_published": "2002-08-22T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/08/22/two-more-days.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/08/21/tired-so-very.html", "content_html": "

Tired. So very tired.

\n

Today was quite a long day. It all started simply enough, with\nyet another day of toying around with op-amps and such. Then\nSara barged in and abducted me from Ben.

\n

We went to get the Olin\nHonor Code back from the framing company. The framing company\non the way to Framingham,\nthat is. We got there and had to pick out a blue for\nthe matte. The workers very visibly wanted to slack off, so we\nran off to Wendy's and both\nhad Spicy Chicken Sandwiches.

\n

As we were leaving, there was a guy who drove by with the\nletters WOW who\nheld up a card that said \"WOW\" to Sara. It stands for\n\"Whip Out Wednesdays\". It's from the \nOpie and Anthony radio show, which seems to be drivel.\nEssentially when a girl sees this on a Wednesday,\nshe's supposed to flash the guy back. Yeah, that'll be\nreally successful.

\n

After Wendy's,\nwe picked up the Honor Code, along with the wrong frame for the\n[secret Orientation 2002 activity deleted]. I got to deliver the\nHonor Code to the new campus and see the Campus Center again.

\n

Bret, Alex, and Julie are now here. Along with Susan, they've\nmoved to the real residence hall. They are this year's R2's. I never\nthought I'd see the day when Olin students would live in\nreal buildings.

\n

After work, I was instantly pulled along to go eat at the \nCheesecake Factory. Only, it didn't work out. The wait for\nour unannounced group of fourteen would have been a couple hours,\nso we instead went to \nPapa Razzi across the street. Yes, two words. Anyway I highly\nsuggest it. The food was great and they worked very hard to seat\nus within about 20 minutes. Plus I got to have garlic!

\n

Mmm, garlic. It's healthy\nfor you, you know.

\n

After that I packed a lot of stuff. It's going to take a lot\nof boxes, as my room is filled with tons of crap. The hardest\npart is pretty much out of the way, though.

\n

Have you heard the song from the new artist Mario? Yes, \"\nJust a Friend 2002\". Well I don't like it! They took a\nwonderful Biz Markie song and did a cover. Well, it's not so\nmuch of a cover as taking the chorus from a humorous sarcastic\nsong and making it into a sappy R&B tune. I must say I am\nappalled. The original is one of those few videos I remember\nwatching and loving from MTV back around 1989 when I first\ndiscovered music videos. It's right up there with Deee-Lite's\n\"Groove is in\nthe Heart\" (which I have on vinyl, no less). DJ Towa Tei is the coolest! The\nlead singer, Lady Miss\nKier, is now a DJ as\nwell. So that, along with \nSupa DJ Dmitry, makes\nevery member of the band an active DJ right now.

\n

Astronomical!

\n", "date_published": "2002-08-21T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/08/21/tired-so-very.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/08/20/tuesday-august-sometimes.html", "content_html": "

Tuesday, August 20, 2002

\n

Sometimes you just gotta let the nerd out of yourself.

\n

I generally try to adopt a nerd-free attitude on life, but\ntoday was an unusual situtation. I started by wearing my RAM necklace that Gary\nmade for me back in \nMr. Gowen's class.

\n

Later in the day, while I was marking up the C tutorial into\nvalidating HTML, just as a nerd\nmight do, Sean\npulled me aside with a few people to take a picture for the new\nOlin Library website. Like the nerd I am, I picked up 2600 and started reading it for\nthe picture.

\n

The plot really thickened when yesterday's plan worked out.\nOlin made \nSlashdot!!! It really killed our website. Traffic halted to a\nstand-still. I was pretty happy with the hundreds of comments\nthat came pouring in after the article got posted. Sean and I\nfrantically worked to dispel rumors and generally share our\nexperiences with the Slashdot\ncommunity.

\n

Anyway, Grant\nPage Central was the recipient of direct\nattacks! I must say I find it highly entertaining. Maybe I\nshouldn't have glorified this\nflame with a response, but I had a lot to say. Hopefully I\nwas \nfairly professional about it.

\n

Also, some MIT\nstudents want to throw a party with us now that they discovered\nus on Slashdot. I know it's scary to imagine making social\nconnections with MIT\nthrough Slashdot, but I still think it has a good chance of\nworking out! (NERD\nALERT!)

\n

In other news, Sara and I ate\nat Pacini's\ntoday. We both had the lasagna. Very cool.

\n

I saw Tucker for the\nlast time today. He's off to New York and Columbia University on Sunday;\nuntil then he's back in Oklahoma City. How ironic, he's in\nOKC and I'm in\nBoston. We talked about Einstein's Theories of\nRelativity for a while and he took off. We've been getting in\nlong discussions lately. It's healthy. You should try it.

\n

I'm starting to really think television is dumb. From defending\nmy blog today to engaging in long conversations, I must say\nthe human factor is much more important than watching the boob tube. I know\nI watch it a lot, but I at least try to do more productive\nthings. If you ask someone what the best thing they did while\nwatching TV was, I bet it's a ton worse than the best thing\nthey've done without TV.

\n

I've starting ripping down my posters and packing some stuff\nup. With only three packing days left, time is of the\nessence for sure.

\n

Sheesh! I'm\npooped! I'm going to bed!

\n", "date_published": "2002-08-20T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/08/20/tuesday-august-sometimes.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/08/19/welcome-to-the.html", "content_html": "

Welcome to the future.

\n

Have you ever noticed that we live in the future? I know we\nliterally don't, but at least we are starting to live in\nwhat I call the \"classical\nfuture\". For instance, we now have cloning. We talk about sending\npeople to Mars as an afterthought. I can play poker against\nGerard Depardieu\nonline and not even know it. The Segway Human Transporter runs\noff your subtle subconscious movements.

\n

What if going to Mars was an economic question rather than a\ntechnical one?

\n

Reading Slashdot clues me in\non several technological innovations and generally cool things.\nSean and I are\nplotting to get Olin on Slashdot. That would be good, even if it\nwould \nkill our servers. The hype alone would generate new\napplicants almost certainly. Keep your eyes\npeeled.

\n

I babysat for four hours today. Mark Somerville's two\ndaughters and I ran around Needham\nCenter in the park there. We would have played with the children\nstatues running in a circle, but they had \nnew concrete poured underneath them. After that we watched\nthe Blue's\nClues \nDVD, guest starring, of all people, Ray\nCharles. Luckily they don't have a TV to watch at home (which\nprobably is a boon to their development), so they watched very\nintently, \nmaking my job all the easier.

\n

That last sentence was rife with dependent clauses.

\n

Other than that, today Dan packed up\nmost of his things. The room is now very bare. The move is upon\nus! We're all so ready. Just five days to go, which reminds me, I\nneed to make sure the sign is getting updated in the MAC that shows how many\ndays are left. As the MAC is actually called\nthe Modular Academic Center, I've heard the use of RAC for Real Academic\nCenter pick up. I don't really like this new name, but perhaps it\nwill stick. It wouldn't make sense too many years from now, in\nthe real future.

\n

Some WTC\nsurvivors/families are adding insult to incredible injury by\nsuing the terrorist funders for trillions\nof dollars. To demonstrate the size of their suggested amount\n(US$116 trillion), the Gross World Product is around\n$US46 trillion. That means all economic output of all countries\nwould have to go toward paying these people for three years.\nThat's the equivalent of a Bill Gates per each person killed in\nthe September 11, 2001 attacks. It's also 20 of our national debts.\nI hate to have to be the one to break it to you, but I don't\nthink these Saudis have as much money as you're wanting.

\n

Tort reform may save the\nworld someday. It certainly could have saved my mother from\nsitting through a frivolous lawsuit involving a guy spilling a\ncoffeepot on himself. Accidents\nhappen. We've got to learn to live with them. I refuse to\nsuffer for your unrelated random misfortune.

\n
\n
Tuesday, August 20, 2002
\n
I forgot to mention my mom was on the\njury. I don't want people to start inserting her in random roles\nsuch as judge or bailiff, or even lawyer.
\n
\n

I'm not trying to come off as so ranty. I'm really in a good\nmood. I promise!

\n", "date_published": "2002-08-19T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/08/19/welcome-to-the.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/08/18/yet-another-day.html", "content_html": "

Yet another day in Needham.

\n

There has been a preponderance of food here at Olin. We\nfeasted today yet again, trying to get rid of all this excess\nfood. My parents pointed out I talk about food a lot on here.\nYes, my parents do read this on a regular basis. Blogging is\na great way to both record what you've done and communicate it to\nfriends and family.

\n

I'm looking for a nice lampshade. Last\nyear I had an extra lightbulb lying around so I bought the most\nminimalist lamp I could find for it. It is literally a metal pole\nwith a lightbulb on top, nothing more. I even left it out without\na lampshade to be really minimalist. Now my goal is to find (or\ncreate?) a clear yet polarized (think sunglasses) lampshade that\nonly lets light come through at certain angles. Unfortunately,\na Google search for \"\nminimalist clear polarized lampshade\" returns zero results. I\nguess I just really want to be passé.\nI saw this great lampshade in Wired magazine for 26\ndollars, which I found reasonable, but the website says you \nhave to order in sets of two. That's pretty dumb. They lost\nmy sale.

\n

Today Tucker came\nover and played \nWarcraft III with the Olinites. He writes a lot of\nwebpages for Quik\nInternet. We both use the same HTML editor, HTML-Kit. That\nsurprised us both. He's leaving for Oklahoma City on Wednesday, then\ngetting back Saturday night and going straight to NYC on Saturday to move in. I\nhope to visit him soon.

\n

I've busted my Handspring\nVisor Prism. Luckily my dad got these \"bonus points\" from his employer (or should I say,\nthey gave him points in lieu of actual money) that can go\ntowards a new Palm m515. I\nhope it's good; it looks like it is. Sometimes I can't help\nfeeling like the spoiled kid getting a new toy when his old one\nbroke. There was a guy at my high school\nwho totalled his Corvette convertible (or whatever) and so his\nparents bought him a Hummer\nthe next day. Oh well, at least in my case I use the thing\nconstantly. Anyone here can vouch for that. I use my PDA on a\nvery daily basis, mostly for actual useful things. Plus,\nit's hard to say no when there's no actual money involved. These\nsilly points won't spend themselves, and hardly hold their value.

\n

Companies losing my sale, points that don't hold their\nvalue... Today's update has been very economically depressing.\nHope there is an upturn soon. Doesn't look like \nanyone else does.

\n", "date_published": "2002-08-18T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/08/18/yet-another-day.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/08/17/today-was-spent.html", "content_html": "

Today was spent in Hudson, NH.

\n

Susan invited us all to her house for a pool party. It\nwas grand. We had lots of food and horsed around in\nthe water for many hours on end. Afterwards we went to the Old Homes Days\ncarnival thing. Other than the power going out, there wasn't too\nmuch going on, so we went back to Susan's house and vented some\n\nfrustration over construction issues and the process of\nmoving in next week.

\n

Good times.

\n

I've been getting a lot more exercise recently. Last thursday\nI played Olin Pick Up\nBasketball (O'Pub). I wore my Japanese headband so I could\nlook cool like Ryu. I\nknow he's a street\nfighter, not a basketball player, but then\nagain this isn't the\nNBA. After basketball and also after swimming today I'm\nstarting to notice I'm short of breath. I hope this is more\nbecause of just being out of shape lately and less because of\nsomething asthmatic.

\n

On a complete sidenote, performing the Heimlich\nmaneuver can be good for asthma relief. I've become a bit of a\nfan of Henry\nHeimlich, after seeing some TV specials on him. He advocates\nreplacing\nmouth-to-mouth resuscitation with the Heimlich manuever,\nwhich actually makes sense once you see the statistics.

\n

My other hero is Douglas\nEngelbart, inventor of the computer mouse and other things we\ntake for granted. His was the second computer on what would\nbecome the Internet! Think about how useful a one-machine\nInternet is for a bit. I can't really vouch for that last fact,\nthough, I just remember hearing about it once. Here I am\npropogating a \nsilly rumor.

\n

Now I shall propogate myself to bed.

\n", "date_published": "2002-08-17T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/08/17/today-was-spent.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/08/16/its-am-and.html", "content_html": "

It's 3 AM and I'm writing this from in my bed.

\n

Today was yet another fulfilling day at Olin\nCollege. I finished up the ANSI C\nTutorial HTML job. Now\nall I have to do is add all \n17 appendices.

\n

For lunch I had the best \nchicken pot pie ever. The top half was mashed potatoes. It\nwas a microwave version of course but it was quite tasty to say\nthe least. I washed it down with some Moxie,\nthe classic New England soda and oldest marketed \ncarbonated beverage in the United States. It leaves such a\nbitter taste in your mouth, but it's so many differing flavors\n\nyou can't resist taking another sip.

\n

For dinner we all went to Rachel Weinstock's\nhouse. She's our Director\nof Financial Services. We had some burgers and hot dogs. We\nhad the inevitable discussion on how New England hot dog buns are\n\ntop-loading, while everywhere else they are side-loading.

\n

Yes, it's true.

\n

We got back to the dorm and found that Ann Marie is back. Nicole had arrived just\nprior to the barbecue.\nThus begins the mass exodus of students back to Olin, culminating\nin the first meeting of all 75 students (since Candidate\nWeekend) this Saturday.

\n
\n
Saturday, August 18, 2002
\n
Dan just reminded me that 11 of the\nVirtual Partners weren't at the Candidate Weekend, so this will\nactually be the first meeting of all 75 students\never.
\n
\n
\n
Tuesday, August 20, 2002
\n
Kate just pointed out to me that it's\nhard to have an exodus back somewhere. Very true.
\n
\n

I once watched a video from this site trying\nto convince me to join in on some strange IT venture \npyramid scheme thing. See if it frightens you away too.

\n

The world is filled with cruft.\nSometimes I just sit back and notice how many things around us\nare a product of ideas that were never really taken to full\nfruition. The cheap\nsilverware I eat with isn't designed that well. The spoon is\nvery flat. They could have made the spoons much better, but they\ndidn't. They got lazy and put out a quick product. There is no\ngood reason the spoons couldn't have had a better curve to them.\nMillions of Wal\nMart shoppers are stuck eating off these a set of this detritus of the \nEarth.

\n

And here I am up at 3:41 AM writing a webpage about nothing.\nThe\nirony.

\n", "date_published": "2002-08-16T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/08/16/its-am-and.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/08/15/insert-first-sentence.html", "content_html": "

Insert first sentence here.

\n

I saw the new campus today!!! I went to the Campus Center to\nhelp Sara\nmove some boxes for the \nOffice of Student Life. I got to look around quite a lot. We\ndidn't get to go to West Roxbury to pick up the Honor Code,\nhowever. That would have been fun, although if we overshot and\nwent to Roxbury we would have been shot or something, at least\naccording to advice we were given.

\n

Dan is\nplaying \nWarcraft III. I was watching for a while. They play this map\ncalled Save the WTC Beta! that is very sad. It's so bad, so\nterrible. It's definitely something awful.

\n

I started packing my room up for the Big Move. Ten days from\nnow the updates will be coming from the Residence Hall on Olin\nWay. Our buildings have the address \"Olin\nWay\" without any numbers. I've also seen versions that say\n\"1000 Olin Way\", so I'm confused. I like the name though. It's\nlike, we do things the Olin\nWay. As long as it's not some sort of cult we're doing OK.

\n

I'm \"webifying\"\nthe Olin College C Tutorial on the job now. Maybe it will be\npublic, and people can learn C from the comforts of their own\nhomes. Of course there are a billion others out there, but I'm\nsure people would come to ours because of the wonderful design.

\n

Not\nthat you're interested or anything.

\n

Dan showed me this webpage that hosts\nPhotoshop competitions. Essentially some guy makes a Photoshop\npic, then the other guy fights back by editing the pic, then it\ngoes back and forth until there have been ten versions. There is\nrunning commentary and score is awarded. All this in a time limit.

\n

\nLink \nLink Link\n\nLink Link \nLink \nLink \nLink Link \nLink Link \nLink Link

\n

I don't know if I'll ever live that last paragraph down.

\n

Steve just called my webpage bad. Go look at his and compare!\nOK, his does have more penguins; I guess I did lose this battle.\nBut how about a match of\nPhotoshop Tennis?

\n", "date_published": "2002-08-15T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/08/15/insert-first-sentence.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/08/14/its-alive-or.html", "content_html": "

It's alive!

\n

Or more accurately, it's not. While Joles, Kate, Will, and I\nwere returning from Borders,\nwe joked about roadkill. Our joking was a little premature, as\ntwo minutes later we hit an opossum. Dead.\nAt least it wasn't a deer.

\n

Everyone at Olin has been enjoying their newfound \nBorders coupons. I bought Stereolab's latest album\n(to my knowledge), Sound-Dust, for half price. Any\nStereolab album is worth buying. I own three now. Stereolab is a\nlittle strange. I saw them with Dan and Jesus earlier this\nyear at Avalon. They\nuse Moog synthesizers and\ntrombones and normal instruments. Very well, I might add. Also,\nwhenever they release vinyl singles,\nthey only make a limited number. Sure, they've released dozens,\nbut every time you see one, it's like you\njust gotta buy one, since you'll never see that one again. I\nhave several I found in Europe, and one I found in Oklahoma\nCity.

\n

Today I helped Sara make a\nwonderful kickin' Word\ntemplate. It was freaking awesome.

\n

The last CD I bought\nbefore today was Deadsy's\nCommencement. Deadsy is a weird hybrid between 80s new\nwave and late 90s-present quasi-goth nu-metal. They also\nprominently feature synthesizers. The lead singer is P. Exeter\nBlue, who just happens to be the son of Cher and Robert Altman.\nThey do a cover of Rush's \"Tom Sawyer\" that has confused\nmany people into believing they were listening to the original.\nEach band member has a color and theme. P. Exeter Blue's theme is\nacademia (how's that for a metal band?) and his color is \nInternational Klein Blue. Yes, \nIKB! No wonder I like it.

\n
\n
August 16, 2002
\n
It turns out that it was really Greg\nAllman, of the Allman Brothers. To repay you, here is a \nbonus Deadsy link.
\n
\n

Today work was slow. Tomorrow the stuff is moving to the real\ncampus! My job is quickly going to change. The Campus Center has\nbeen given a temporary unofficial occupancy permit, to hold us\nover until it gets the real one in a few days. This is a great\nthing, since we need to move in and only have 14 days left before\nclasses start. The Classroom Building and Residence Hall are\nstill lagging. Let's home I have somewhere to live a week from\nSaturday!

\n

Erin emailed me yesterday. She said she heard from TC. I need to get in\ncontact with him. She said he might want to visit before school\nstarts, but at this rate it won't happen. Right now I'm\ncompletely out of touch with him.

\n

While at Borders, I looked through all the books. For some\nreason, only science books interest me. I don't care for fiction.\nI only like reading fact, especially about math, physics, or\ncomputers. Music too, I guess. We really need a library. We have\na pretend library over in the MAC that carries 2600. I think that's so cool.

\n

My motherboard's\nstupid built-in sound\ncard won't work. In Linux, at least. It autodetects it fine,\nbut then nothing happens and the sound server fails. Great. I'll\njust go buy a cheapo Sound\nBlaster 16. Dan got this program\nfrom Linux that emulates two 303s, an 808, and a \n909. It's very nice. And free.

\n", "date_published": "2002-08-14T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/08/14/its-alive-or.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2001/08/13/a-change-of.html", "content_html": "

A change of pace would be nice.

\n

I'm writing today's update from outside. I'm sitting on the\ndeck behind the Mod.\nThe air is moist and clean, and it is still quite warm out, for\n\n12:45 AM at least. I'm looking at the new campus, where I'll\nbe living in two weeks. I took some pictures of it, which I'll\ntry to post later, although it's very dark and they didn't come\nout so well. Susan said some buildings were inspected the last\nfew days, but none have probably passed yet. Soon we will be\nmoving equipment over.

\n

I wrote my learning plan today. Actually I only started it. I\nhave to have it done by Thursday to show to my advisor, Prof. Mike\nMoody. It was more of just a draft. Probably I should be more\nserious. Or not. I still have lots of time, relatively\nspeaking.

\n

I have a theory. There are two types of people: car people and\ncomputer people. I know this is an overgeneralization, but for\nmost cases there is something similar you can replace \"car\" or \"computer\" with. Car people are\nmore inclined to involve themselves with corporeal physical\nobjects, while computer people are more abstract and work with\nideas. The distinction arose when I realized that while many\npeople hotrod their\ncars, there is a growing class of people who hotrod\ntheir computers. This may seem silly to traditionalists, but\nthen again, hotrodding cars seems silly to us computerites. For car people,\nwhere you are is very important. Having a nice car can get you to\nyour friends' houses and into the city, or on long vacations. Likewise,\nfor computer people, the Internet can fulfill many of these\ndesires. Sure, no person wants to stick in front of the screen\nall day, but computer people are more likely to look something up\nin a book before they ask\nsomeone else's opinion. Sometimes this book just happens to be\nthe Internet. Anyway, if you have any comments, please shoot them my way, and\nI might post them in an update here or work them into a more\npermanent page. Adam and I applied this theory further, deciding\nthe difference holds equally true for EEs and MEs.

\n

My other theory is that there is a nerd-jock spectrum, and if\nyou watch \nConan you're more towards the nerd side. Jocks tend to watch\nCraig\nKilborn. That's just the way it is.

\n

I just heard a train go by. These are the things you miss when\npent up inside all day.

\n

Dan has this\ndemo of a program from NVidia\nthat lets you type in an address anywhere on Earth and then zooms\nin on it really close using satellite data. What sets this apart\nfrom those satellite\nwebsites is the fact that the Earth is rendered in full 3D\nand the zooming is entirely to scale. Dan can see the playset\nthing in the backyard of his old house in Lake Forest, IL. You\ncan also see people waiting in line in front of the \nI.M. Pei pyramid at the Louvre. I have almost the same\n\npicture of Adam and Dan walking towards the Louvre pyramid\nfrom the side. Oklahoma City is at a much lower resolution on the\nEarth viewer, so you can't make out a lot of stuff.\nCoincidentally, there is an \nI.M. Pei structure in Oklahoma City.

\n

Today I spent over $1000 of Olin's money. Well actually I ordered electrical supplies for\nGill. He told me what to buy, but still it is nice placing a\nfour-digit cost order online over a wireless ethernet\nconnection. Yes, I guess that makes me a computer person now,\ndoesn't it?

\n", "date_published": "2002-08-13T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2001/08/13/a-change-of.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/08/12/it-has-that.html", "content_html": "

It has that certain I don't know what.

\n

Today I slaved away in the ECE lab. Will and I spent\nseveral hours clearing off all the benches so they can be shipped\nup to the real campus\ntomorrow morning. This was quite a laborious task. We found all\nsorts of things from as early as Mod I.

\n

Jeff and I\nwent to Bagels'\nBest for lunch. I had the roast beef bagel sandwich and boy\nthat mustard sure cleared my sinuses. The office sure is empty\nlately, now that Sean and Adam are gone. Adam\nleft his door unlocked. Dan put the Eazee\nSqueeze jalapeño cheese food spread thing onto Adam's bed,\ncreating a fun surprise for him when he gets back.

\n

I'll be getting my huge Chemical Brothers\nposter in the mail soon. It's full subway ad size. Jesse brought it back for\nme from USC last\nyear.

\n

I have been finding that very random people read this page.\nFor instance, my mom reads this. I find that very interesting\nconsidering I didn't tell anyone about my page. Perhaps she saw\nit in my AIM profile. More\nlikely, Kyle showed it to her. I wouldn't put anything past her,\nhowever, because she is one of the more tech-savvy\nmothers out there.

\n

We threw a surprise birthday party for Kate today.\nAfterwards Joles\nshowed us her big whip. She has a big \nbuggy whip for some reason. We used it to break the sound\nbarrier.

\n

I'm going to take off my socks. Socks make me feet incredibly\nhot. That is frustrating. So I'll take them off.

\n

I've been trying to avoid making these posts \ntedious and boring.

\n

Today, Steve, Dan and I went to the Firebirds\nGrill. We all love Firebirds because they love us Olin kids.\nThe manager came over and chatted with us when she saw my Olin\nshirt. It turns out that Olin's mascot is the most famous\nfirebird, the Phoenix. They have \"Phoenix Wings\" at Firebirds.\nAlso, we are both located in Needham. To add insult to injury,\nFirebirds offers Frank's Hot Sauce on every table. Olin's first\nname is Frank. Go figure.

\n

Sheeva is cool. Go visit her livejournal\nsometime. She's going to the Le\nTigre concert. GRRRRR!

\n

OK, that's enough for today. Maybe later I'll tell you a fun\nstory from my past. I'm sorry that you guys have to put up with\nthe fact that I write these all late at night right before I go\nto bed. It causes me to favor things that happen later in the day\nand are fresher in my memory. Also, my mindset is generally the\nsame this late at night. Oh well, I have a day job.

\n", "date_published": "2002-08-12T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/08/12/it-has-that.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/08/11/one-day-or.html", "content_html": "

One day or another, I'm gonna find ya, I'm gonna \ngitcha gitcha gitcha gitcha.

\n

Linux weekend is drawing to\na close as I completely gut my machine and put Red Hat on it instead. Tomorrow\nis work again so maybe I can put my head back into reality.

\n

Today was generally slow. Lately the nerd in me has been\nwinning out somehow. Today was also Star Trek watching night with\nKate and Joles on The New TNN. Lore used the \nBorg to capture Data. If you have no idea what I'm talking\nabout, all the better for you.

\n

I'm up quite late and I have to work tomorrow so I should get\nto sleep soon. I'm going to move the ECE lab in\ntwo days, so tomorrow will be spent boxing up a great many\nelectronic \"dealies\".

\n

I went to the supermarket today and bought me some Quaker Crunchy Corn Bran,\ncontinuing my adult\nno-fun cereal theme. Last time it was Post Grape Nuts. Looks like\nI'll be getting my folic\nacid. Funny how I trust corn cereal products from a company\ncalling itself Quaker Oats.

\n

I also bought some beverage called Moxie.\nIt's very strange looking, probably a cola of some sort. I'll get\nback to you.

\n

Austin went around Oklahoma City looking for\nopen 802.11b wireless networks. He found several, including one\nnear his house that was fairly easy to get into. He even found\npictures. Scary. They really aren't secure by default. Be sure to\nuse WEP\nat the very least, even though it is weak.

\n
\n
Wednesday, August 14, 2002
\n
Just thought you would like to know, the\nterm for what we we're doing is war driving. Had we been on foot\nit would have been war walking.
\n(email from Austin)
\n
\n

Today's update is lacking; nothing much went on today.

\n", "date_published": "2002-08-11T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/08/11/one-day-or.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/08/10/five-for-a.html", "content_html": "

Five for a floppy?

\n

Today I went to the PC\nShow and bought a bunch of stuff. I got a new case,\nmotherboard, power supply, processor, and floppy drive. And I\ndidn't buy a single one at the listed price. Let's hear it for haggling! I\nfeel like quite the barterer. For those of you who haven't tried\nhaggling, the\nrush that comes afterwards is infectious. Of course I used\nthis opportunity to live up to my nerd status and not only build\nit myself, but also install SuSE\nLinux. And not from some sissy CDs or DVD; I used three\nfloppies to get enough on there to install by FTP. So there!

\n

Other than that I cleaned up one of our dryers. It turns out\nthat Ajay, our RA, or more accurately the\nguy who lives here and hasn't interacted with a single soul all\nyear, put his boots in the dryer, leaving it quite marked. This\nwas before I got here. The other students gave him an ultimatum. He\nnever did clean it up, however, so Will and I found\nourselves doing it instead. He just got back today from Oregon,\nhis home.

\n

Adam is leaving tomorrow. Back to Vermont! He put together our recycling program. Leighton is leaving too.\nI think he said he's going to Canada. His parents are in the\narea for awhile, so he'll be pretty busy for the next week or\nso.

\n

Right now I'm installing lots of Free Software using Ximian\nRed Carpet. It's pretty easy. I like free things.

\n

We watched Willy Wonka and\nthe Chocolate Factory today. Yes, we watched Willy Wonka. To be more\naccurate, I slept through most of it.

\n

A lot of people are gone this weekend. Sara, Susan (for a\nwhile), Adam and Leighton (soon), Jeff (who lives at home 5 miles away, not here at\nOlin), Steve and Susan (again) (just for the day tomorrow) (New Jersey), and Nicole. Will\nbetter make up for them, being the only new arrival.

\n

The school year is \ncreeping up on us. Everyone is so excited to see fresh new\nfaces. We're actually going to have enough people to have some\nsemblence of parties and clubs and social activities. We also\ndon't have to keep calling ourselves prefreshmen. That got old\nfast. Now we can pretend to be new freshmen \nunadjusted to college life.

\n", "date_published": "2002-08-10T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/08/10/five-for-a.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/08/09/it-seems-you.html", "content_html": "

It seems you know me both inside and out.

\n

Today I ate at Cafe Sol\nAzteca, a pretty nice Mexican restaurant. I must say it's not\nreally a lot like the Tex-Mex I'm used to, so I assume it's more\nlike actual Mexico food. The name at least implies a more\ncentrally located Mexican cuisine. Mmm, \nTenochtitlan. The salsa was milder and sweeter than my On The\nBorder fare from a couple days ago, and comes highly recommended.\nI was pretty happy when Dan asked me how to say \"beans\" in\nSpanish and I subconsciously thought \"frijoles\". I don't know\nvery much Spanish, and I thought I was wrong, but Chris confirmed that\nI was right.

\n

Today we watched three episodes of Star Trek. I must admit\nstraightforwardly that I used to be very into Star Trek.\nI know, I know. Well it was fun because everyone currently here\nhad seen pretty much every episode before so we had plenty of\nopportunity to heckle\nit. Being a proto-engineer causes me to see through the tech\nmumbo-jumbo, but it's fun to watch nonetheless.

\n

Work was pretty basic today. I spent 6.5 hours working on a\ndocument. That can get old.

\n

Now my mom is a finalist for Millionaire also. She\ndrove up to Tulsa to take the test, so\nnow both of my parents have a relatively small chance of making\nit on to the now daily syndicated show. I hope it comes near\nBoston soon!

\n

Tomorrow I'm going to the PC\nShow. I'm going to check prices on New Egg first. New Egg is a\ngreat place to get components. I've only heard good reviews, and\nthe prices are reasonable if not superior. If I find cheaper\nstuff at the show, however, I'm going for it.

\n

The ECE lab is\nmoving from the MAC to campus on\nTuesday. This means I will quickly move from a desk job to a hard\nlabor job. I get to lug boxes!

\n

CNN has a ton of user-submitted\ndesigns for a WTC memorial. Most of them\nare quite pitiful. Dan is constantly emailing me ones that outbad\nthe previous entries as they are released each day. In our\nArt IS class\nduring the Partner Year,\nseveral students and I designed WTC and Pentagon memorial\nideas. Mine was more of an idea than an actual physical design,\ntaking only a piece of paper in the stead of a real model.

\n

I also built a theremin for the class.\nThe theremin is the first electronic instrument, which you play\nby waving\nyour hands toward and away from a pitch antenna and a volume\nantenna. It is very difficult indeed. You can play every tiny\nmicrotone between notes, although that is difficult as there is a\nfour-octave range over about a foot and a half of space. This\nmakes for crazy\nglissandos. Theremins were popularized (and trivialized) by\ntheir use in 50s-era cheesy\nB horror and space movies.

\n", "date_published": "2002-08-09T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/08/09/it-seems-you.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/08/08/drink-from-the.html", "content_html": "

Drink from the punchbowl of knowledge.

\n

Today my job required unusual things of me. I spent hours\nhelping to form some grading policy for our grading proposal. I\nalso listened to one of the candidates for the position of our new librarian. She gave us\nall postcards with stamps on them so we could write back to her\nin Oregon. Great idea.

\n

Jesse has some cool\npictures on his site. You should check them out sometime. He once\ndid a photo shoot for the up-and-coming R&B star Sharissa. Right now he goes to\nUSC and is a film major.

\n

Earlier today I promised myself that I wouldn't spend so much\ntime on mundane\ndetails of my life and devote more time to abstract thoughts.\nDan and I have\nlong abstract discussions into the wee hours pretty much every\nnight. Right now I'm spending the wee hours writing this,\nhowever. Of course I don't know what abstract is supposed to mean\nin this context. Maybe I'll just tell old stories instead.

\n

I'm listening to Beck's Odelay right now. My fifth\nalbum ever. Dan is talking to me about some Flash museum\ninstallation they have in New\nYork City. It reminds me of the Praystation exhibit at London's Design Museum. Joshua\nDavis is a Flash master. He pretty much rules the world while\neveryone else catches up. He once sold the entire contents of his\nhard drive, including personal files and unreleased Flash code,\nin a limited-edition box set.

\n

While at the museum, I bought a book about fontography. I hope\nto write a font someday. I might be able to convince the college to give me credit for\nit. (or perhaps just recognition on my transcript)

\n

Every student currently at Olin went to Rod's\nhouse today. Rod\nCrafts is our Dean of Student Life. He has a wonderful\nbackyard that is on a small cliff and has many levels of ground\nwith chairs set up so you can look down over the gardens below.\nWe had burgers.

\n

The new students (and all the old ones too) arrive in a couple\nweeks. We all can't wait.

\n

Look for some of my\nmusic over the next few days on this site. I've been meaning\nto make a new section dedicated to my music and some MP3s. The RIAA can just cry, because they\nhave no power over my music. I used to go by the moniker Citron, but now\nI'm just simply Grant Hutchins. Keep that in mind when referring\nto my music. I've been meaning to tell Jon about this for some time\nnow.

\n

Speaking of, Jon asked me for the original Photoshop file for one\nof the little logos on his page. He's making stationery\nI heard. Watch out for some new stuff soon.

\n

While I'm in the mood for plugging old friends, check out Tucker's new\nDJ\nmix, \"Trance 8.8.02\". He's amazing at mixing. My favorite\ntransition is the one in \"Electronic 5.28.02\" from Crystal Method's \"Busy\nChild\" to Orbital's\n\"An Fhomhair\".\nSimply amazing stuff.

\n", "date_published": "2002-08-08T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/08/08/drink-from-the.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/08/07/yet-another-day.html", "content_html": "

Yet another day at the school called Olin.

\n

I worked again today, as usual. Part of the day was spent\nwatching a video of crazily efficient wooden wall-mounted kinetic\nsculptures with some classmates and Woodie\nFlowers. One of the cohorts at Olin will be working on\nkinetic sculptures similar to these but most undoubtedly less\nambitious. The sculptures from the video could run for ten hours\non a tiny wind of a wheel.

\n

Nicole was going to fly to Oregon today, but when her plane\ntook off, one of the engines started emitting flames so it landed\nand she has to fly out tomorrow very early in the morning. She\ntalked very nonchalantly about it.

\n

This summer I didn't do much of consequence. One thing I am\nproud of, however, was working with Jon on an anti-drug PSA television\ncommercial he made. He's going to try to sell it to companies or\nchurches to put their logo on in the final scene. I went to see\nhim at OCCC and we\nwent to lunch at Taco Bell.\nAfterwards, I created a sound file for them to use in the video.\nIt was the sound of a coffin closing, followed by an echo. I made\nthe sound from a bass drum dropped a couple octaves. It was a fun\ntask; hopefully I can work like this in the future, possibly for\npay. I did get a 2-channel Gemini mixer out of the whole\ndeal.

\n

I broke out the first large jar of On The Border salsa today.\nIt has a very meaty, rich flavor to it. I highly suggest it if\nit's sold in your area. Sean sure seemed to like\nit. I think he's addicted like me.

\n

Only 18 days until the new freshmen come! I just realized the\nschool will more than double (from 30 to 75) this year, and it\nwill also more than double (75 to ~175) next year. What school\ndoes that?

\n

On Saturday I'm going to the PC Show to look for parts for my\nLinux desktop server I plan on\npurchasing. Dan and I spent hours trying to set up his NVidia\ncard some more, with no luck.

\n

Today Sara and I\nwent out onto the back deck and did something odd. She took a\nmeasuring bowl full of 2 cups of water and poured some on the\nbottoms of my feet. I think walked around and she looked at the\nfootprints to note how flat my feet are. We then both stepped in\na puddle thus formed and did a side-by-side comparison.

\n

For lunch I made mashed potatoes, but put too much water in it\n(continuing the wasteful water use\ntheme). Luckily I had some potato chips to crumble and put into\nit. It may sound odd but I enjoyed it.

\n", "date_published": "2002-08-07T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/08/07/yet-another-day.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/08/06/work-is-already.html", "content_html": "

Work is already becoming routine.

\n

Today I fleshed out the papers I've been writing for\nexplanation of thermocouples, op-amps, and duty cycles.\nI also talked to my mom about how she and my dad tried out for\nWho Wants To Be A Millionaire? They took a 30 question multiple\nchoice test. After that the people who did well enough passed to\nthe next round. My dad made it! They interviewed him (he said it\nwent well), and if he is accepted he'll receive a postcard. One\nof the ladies there was disqualified for having been on The Weakest Link.

\n

I lost my wallet and spent all day looking for it. It was next\nto my alarm clock.

\n

We ate at Bertucci's\nin Wellesley today. I couldn't pay because I had lost my\nwallet.

\n

My Handspring\nVisor Prism is hosed. I dropped it and now the backlight\ndoesn't work at all. Everything else works fine. I'm going to see\nif it's cheap to fix it. If not, I'll try myself or get Prof.\nGill Pratt to help me perhaps. I sure miss the poor sucker. (the\nVisor, not Gill. I see Gill daily; he employs me.)

\n

Leighton finished\nthe Partner Year DVD. It looks very nice. Dan made a wonderful 3D\nintro in 3D\nStudio Max based on the Universal Pictures\nlogo. Leighton managed to fit all six episodes of The\nHistory and Mystery of Mars on there. I made the menus for\nit, so I'm happy, although maybe it wasn't such a good idea to\nstay up until 3:30 am last night to do it.

\n", "date_published": "2002-08-06T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/08/06/work-is-already.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/08/05/today-was-the.html", "content_html": "

Today was the first day I've ever worked.

\n

I now have a job at Olin. I\nspent today working with Sean to write up a lab\nexercise for next year and order materials for it on the\nbudget.

\n

I worked for a good deal of the day, then Elizabeth, Prof.\nJoanne Pratt's daughter, came and I attempted to help babysit\nher. She's only a year old and cries at the sight of me, so I\ngave up for now.

\n

Dan and I used Adobe\nPhotoshop 7 to brainstorm some layouts for our new dorm room\nonce the school year starts. The Residence Hall is essentially\ncomplete, and we should be moving in less than three weeks.

\n

Tomorrow my parents are going to the Oklahoma City Zoo to try out\nfor Who Wants To Be A\nMillionaire?. My mom has been a finalist to appear on the\nshow before, but missed only one question over the phone in the\nfinal qualifying round. This time around I think she has a good\nchance. It's the new syndicated Millionaire, sans \nRegis.

\n", "date_published": "2002-08-05T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/08/05/today-was-the.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/08/04/happy-birthday-mom.html", "content_html": "

Happy birthday, Mom!

\n

Today started out with Dan and I attempting to configure his\nnew install of SuSE Linux to \nsupport 3D rendering with his NVidia GeForce4. Soon after\nthat, Dan left to go to the Foundation of Teaching Economics\ndinner over at Babson College\nNeedham/Wellesley Room. His aunt helped found it or something\nlike that, so he got a free dinner.

\n

Nicole asked me\nif I wanted to go to the wildlife refuge with her, so I did. The\nstrange Brazilian driving instructor wasn't there, so Nicole was\nhappy. Anyway, we discovered that you're supposed to pay to enter\nand that the refuge actually has nine miles of trails, not just\nthe quarter- to half-mile or so we expected. We saw some turtles\nand various other wildlife, including menacing flies that drove\nus out.

\n

Shortly thereafter, the Dan and I got another free dinner\nacross the parking lot at the MAC. Leslie organized a\ndinner from Vinny\nTesta's so that we could discuss how to get ready for\ninternship opportunities next year. After that, Leighton, Dan,\nSteve, Chris and I joined Jeff and Katie to see Austin Powers 3,\nwhich wasn't sold out this time. Austin Powers movies are\nbecoming methodical\nand unfunny in some parts, although we had a fun time.

\n", "date_published": "2002-08-04T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/08/04/happy-birthday-mom.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/08/03/the-area-festivalwas.html", "content_html": "

The Area 2 Festival\nwas great! Let me run down what it was like.

\n

First I came in and barely missed Dieselboy's set in the Playstation 2 DJ tent,\nwhich was disappointing since I generally prefer jungle to\ntrance, but then DJ\nTiësto came in and was pretty good, but I decided to\nleave to see the entire Blue Man\nGroup show on the main stage. Their show was pretty good,\nfull of crazy percussion madness, although the audience\nparticipation doesn't work with that size of an audience. It was\na little awkward at times. Hungry, I ate an expensive and\nmisnomered \"Chicken Sandwich Deluxe\", which consisted of a slab\nof tough chicken on a bun. Hits the spot every time. After we\nlearned that Busta\nRhymes wasn't going to show, Tucker, Dan, and I\nreturned to the tent to see John Digweed, the\nnumber-one-rated DJ in the world by most accounts. He was really\ngood, and I found myself able to enjoy his style of music, even\nthough I'm usually not up for it. I was dancing pretty heavily,\nso my glasses flew off my face twice. After I was sufficiently\ntired Dan and I caught the end of David Bowie's set. A lot of\npeople there completely loved it, but I just sorta liked it. I'm\nnot the Bowie type but it was good. After that I caught some Carl Cox in the tent which was\nalso quite fun, but only stayed for a few minutes because of the\nimportant matter at hand:

\n

Moby.

\n

Moby was great, as usual. I've seen him before, with Bush in\nthe Campus Invasion tour in Norman, OK. This time around he was a\nlot funnier. He had a Krusty sticker from the Simpsons on his\nguitar. He also put on a wig and acted like a metal guy for a\nwhile. He was a lot more interesting this time around, even if he\ndidn't play \"All I Need Is To Be Loved\" or \"Oil 1\", two of my\nfavorite songs. He didn't jump on top of his keyboard or play a\nvery long guitar solo, but otherwise it was Moby at his best. The\nfirst encore he played was a quick cover of the \"Hey ho! Let's\ngo!\" punk song. The whole night you could tell he really wanted\nto cover something (other than just the \"James Bond Theme\" as\nusual) He ended with \"Feeling So Real\" just like last time, so I\nwas happy to say the least.

\n

Right now after the show Dan, Leighton, Chris and I are\ndrinking virgin\nmargaritas and listening to mellow jazz on 'GBH. All and all a very\ngood day, although expensive for sure.

\n
\n
August 5, 2002
\n
The song Moby covered was \n\"Blitzkrieg Bop\" by The Ramones.
\n
\n", "date_published": "2002-08-03T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/08/03/the-area-festivalwas.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/08/02/im-back-at.html", "content_html": "

I'm back at Olin and I'll\nprobably be starting work on Monday. I had the hardest time\ntrying to change this webpage from Oklahoma.

\n

Tomorrow I'm going to the Area 2 festival. It will\nlast from 3:30 pm on to probably the wee hours, and features Moby, David Bowie, Busta Rhymes,\nand Blue Man Group. I've\nalready seen Moby and Blue Man Group before. When I went to the\nMoby show I bought a Moby t-shirt. When I went to the Blue Man\nGroup show I wore that shirt, because I figured they would like\nMoby. Later that year, after both of them got much more famous,\nthey performed together at the Grammy Awards. I think they saw my\nshirt and put two and two together. Anyway, now Moby has selected\nBlue Man Group to be in his second Area Festival, and it's all\nthanks to my shirt.

\n

Dan, Steve, Chris and I went to the Framingham 15 theater to\nsee Austin Powers 3. It was still sold out, so we left. Dan just\ntold me something interesting about the Framingham 15, which has\none of the less than 20 all-digital screens in the country. It\nturns out the AMC Framingham 15 was once the General Cinemas 16.\nIt turns out this theater also has one of the two \"luxury\"\ntheaters that serve alcohol. When AMC bought the facility out,\nsays Dan, who is only moderately sure of this, they were only\ngiven 15 of the theaters, the \"luxury\" theater staying with\nGeneral Cinemas. You learn something new everyday.

\n

Dan also showed me Half\nBakery, a place where you can brainstorm ideas and then\npeople vote on them. I then showed him everything2, a strange\nmish-mash of writeups on any topic imaginable. In fact, if you\nimagine something that isn't there, you get to write it up\nyourself.

\n
\n
August 4, 2002
\n
It turns out that AMC bought out General\nCinemas; we were wrong. They are all owned by the same company\nnow. It's the \nAMC Framingham 16.
\n
\n", "date_published": "2002-08-02T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/08/02/im-back-at.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/05/30/my-old-web.html", "content_html": "

My old web page from a year ago is now available at http://students.olin.edu/ghutchins/old/. It's\nreally exciting stuff, I tell you.

\n", "date_published": "2002-05-30T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/05/30/my-old-web.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/05/19/time-to-head.html", "content_html": "

Time to head home for a few weeks. My flight is later today,\naround 5. This space may not change for a while, depending on\nwhether or not I find a way to access the Olin network from\noutside Olin. I'll keep you posted.

\n", "date_published": "2002-05-19T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/05/19/time-to-head.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2002/05/17/its-really-late.html", "content_html": "

It's really late. I need to pack \"tomorrow\" (today) so I\nshould probably go to bed, eh?

\n

Today was the last day of Olin as we know it. The VOPs are\nhere and with the newbies next year it's going to be one\ndifferent situation. I also got to visit the campus for the first\ntime. Our buildings are simply wonderful. I'm ready to move in as\nsoon as possible.

\n", "date_published": "2002-05-17T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2002/05/17/its-really-late.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2001/06/10/i-stayed-home.html", "content_html": "

I stayed home all day today. My aunt and uncle and two cousins came over. We ate barbecue then played a lot of ping pong. Today my dad invited me to come along with him to go see the U.S. Open in Tulsa this Tuesday. I was very excited, until I found out it was the golf U.S. Open and not the tennis one. Oh well. Tennis and golf are the only sports I can stand to watch on television, but I don’t think I could watch golf live without going crazy. We also watched the NBA Finals Game 3. We made fun of Shaq and his rap career and the Shaq Fu video game. We also watched Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and the timeless favorite cable auction. After the relatives left, I retired to my room and downloaded Red Hat Linux, which took a very long time. This day was a little more laid back and relaxing than the rest. So there.

\n", "date_published": "2001-06-10T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2001/06/10/i-stayed-home.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2001/06/09/today-i-went.html", "content_html": "

Today I went to the Omniplex with Veronica, Jason, and Leigh Ann. My favorite part was the International Photography Hall Of Fame. I find it strange that it’s at the Omniplex, but it has some really cool prints and some old cameras. We also rode the Geovator and did a lot of the now silly-seeming experiments. Man, I used to so love them! Afterwards we ate at the Macaroni Grill, where there are people singing opera quite often. I ordered Insalata Con Pollo. Very good. We then ventured onward to the Paseo. There wasn’t anything going on there at all, so we ventured to 23rd and found out Vintage Plus and Rainbow Records were closed. We then hit CD Outlet where we met Jon and Alexandra (his girlfriend). I spent 10 dollars buying 4 oldskool rave CDs, including two by Quadrophonia, which includes one of the members of T-99. Wow. That’s fun. Then we went to Jon’s and watched a pirated Freddy Got Fingered bootleg video CD on his Sega Dreamcast. The first Video CD ended, but the second one wouldn’t play, so we watched cable auction instead. The knife table really sucked. They had this Confederate knife that we all didn’t think was very cool. Then Veronica, Jason, and Leigh Ann headed home, and so did I. When I got home I played my brother some Street Fighter Alpha 2 emulated on MAME. Then I went downstairs and wrote out a week’s worth of News page entries with the recently regained Internet connection. Another full day of fun. Life is good.

\n", "date_published": "2001-06-09T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2001/06/09/today-i-went.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2001/06/08/woke-up-when.html", "content_html": "

Woke up when Jon complained loudly to Jesse not to make meow noises and wake him up. Perhaps I should have told Jon not to make loud complaining noises so as to not wake me up. I went home that morning and looked at the new 1 GHz Compaq we bought cheap from overstock.com It needed a network card, so we bought one at the wondeful CompUSA. Stephanie called and invited us to Eischen’s, a supposedly-really-good chicken joint in Okarche. I was all for it, and eventually Jon, Austin, and I set out. But then Jon got kinda mad when we were following Stephanie’s other friends on the way there and decided to ditch them. We drove by a cool abandoned farm instead. We decided to eat at Del Rancho’s, of all places. I called Veronica and she and Jason came up to visit us. We watched some cable auction. We then ventured to the abandoned farm again. After that we hit Taco Cabana and went to Jon’s, and they left. I decided to go home as well at this time. Another fun day with Veronica and Jason. Veronica then invited us all to the Omniplex for tomorrow.

\n", "date_published": "2001-06-08T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2001/06/08/woke-up-when.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2001/06/07/this-was-a.html", "content_html": "

This was a very fun day. Jon asked me to visit Norman with him. We went to OU to look at their film program. It wasn’t so impressive. Jon is strongly considering OCCC instead, which has a nice new video production program with updated technology. Nate helps out with it too. Then I called Sheeva when we were done so we could hang out like I told her we would sometime. She wasn’t there so I called Veronica. She was at OU! We met up with her, her twin sister Erica, and friends Jason and Leigh Ann at the Union building. We watched Jason eat Chick-Fil-A. Then we stopped by Sonic to redeem some Sonic dollars, since Jon has about ten million sitting around he got as a graduation present. Then we went to “the park.” Jason helped designed some of the kids’ playground equipment areas and he showed us his input. We swang on the swings and Veronica discovered that her older sister Amy got into a wreck. This is a recurring theme, as Erica wrecked a couple days earlier. Let’s all hope the trend doesn’t continue in the Edwards family. We then went to the Borders where Josh and Sheeva write their haikus. We rummaged around there for awhile, then spent too long in the parking lot plotting our next move. We went back to Sonic to spend more Sonic dollars, then back to the park, it now being night. We just sat around in the park until about 12:00 and then came home. It may not sound like much but this was one of the funnest days I’ve had in a while. At Jon’s house, Jesse had brought over his brand-new refurbished used iMac. It is very cool. We got it to say what people IMed us out loud, which entertained Jon and me until 5 in the morning. Thence we partook in sleep.

\n", "date_published": "2001-06-07T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2001/06/07/this-was-a.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2001/06/06/today-i-went.html", "content_html": "

Today I went to the orthodontist. I checked out OK. Then he took an x-ray of my wisdom teeth to help in removing them. Little did I know (OK, I did know, but I forgot) that I already had one done at the dentist over Spring Break, and that I don’t need them out, at least yet. I hope never to get them out. This is one thing that really bothers me. I know I will evenutally give in, however, no harm done. Afterwards I got an oil change, or as I told Jon and Austin, a “lube job”. They gave me funny looks. We then went to CompUSA and Best Buy to look at Macs. Macs are very cool all of a sudden. They are good for digital video editing, which is why Jon and Jesse both are getting them. We also stopped by Guitar Center and played with synths and drum machines like we always do. Then I got a lime slush and Sonic and went home.

\n", "date_published": "2001-06-06T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2001/06/06/today-i-went.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2001/06/05/i-woke-up.html", "content_html": "

I woke up much earlier than usual, 10:30 AM. Yeah, I know, poor me. Little did I realize I was running late for my doctor’s appointment at 11:00. I got there in time, however. I checked out fine in my college physical. I guess Olin can let me come now. I need to get my Hepatitis B shots still. They gave me a tourniquet and drew blood. How fun! Afterwards Mother and I picked up Kyle from Driver Ed. He then drove us to Taco Bell and we made him order drive-thru. I got the Nachos BellGrande. Good eatin’. A little later, my good buddy Nate asked if I’d help network the computers he uses with Lifetime Video Productions, his other job besides running his own production outfit. We bought a couple of wires and meanwhile tried to think of a good new name for Real Life Productions, since we might change the name and web address. Nothing conclusive. At home, we didn’t have Internet access, for @Home hadn’t updated our connection for our brand new cable modem yet. Instead we had to do real family-type things such as play the board game Omega Virus, which is very fun. After that I went to eat at IHOP with Kamaria and Josh and Josh’s Kelsey. Too many people have the same name, and I always find it funny when they become “owned” like that for clarity.

\n", "date_published": "2001-06-05T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2001/06/05/i-woke-up.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2001/06/04/discovered-that-there.html", "content_html": "

Discovered that there isn’t much to do on a Monday in Oklahoma City. I met up with Veronica and we saw O Brother Where Art Thou? It was a very good movie in my opinion. Afterwards we went to Chili’s to eat. We then commenced in aimlessly driving around noticing that there is little to do on a Monday. We went up north and adventured around Waterloo. All and all a fun night.

\n", "date_published": "2001-06-04T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2001/06/04/discovered-that-there.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2001/06/03/today-i-went.html", "content_html": "

Today I went to Jesse’s again, to see A@ron’s play he put on at Occidental. It was (and still is, I guess) entitled “America and Masturbation: A Play About Sex”. It was somewhat awkward watching it with such people as Jesse’s parents and his grandmother, but it was fun nonetheless. Jesse’s grandmother is a psychologist, and has been practicing for well over 60 years now, which I find amazing. After the show I hung out with Jesse and we went with his father, grandmother, and A@ron to Souper! Salad!. I had never eaten at one before. They are very wonderful. You can get so much food for not very many moneys (inside cable auction joke). The only thing that surprised me was that they had much fewer soup options than they did salad ones. We then high-tailed it over to Jon’s. Jesse and I performed an experiment. We both left at the same time from his house and took two different routes to get to Jon’s. I took May, he took the Hefner Parkway. We tied. It didn’t really help Jesse out like he had hoped. Tough luck. Then Jesse, Austin, Jon and I did something that I am sure will shock you all. We ate at the Edmond Whataburger. Yes, yet another Whataburger. What can I say? It’s a great place. Then I went home to sleep, as usual.

\n", "date_published": "2001-06-03T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2001/06/03/today-i-went.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2001/06/02/where-to-begin.html", "content_html": "

Where to begin…? I woke up this morning when my aunts came over, with my little cousin Shayla. She’s the coolest. She’s only about 2 I think and she told me when I was banging the drums to “stop making so many noises.” She’s a little smartie! After that I headed over to Jesse’s father’s residence, where I watched Jesse’s brother’s videos. A@ron does sketch comedy in a troupe at Occidental College, the “Sketchy People.” We then went to Jesse’s mother’s residence to see what A@ron got Jesse for his graduation. It was a toilet. A@ron filmed Jesse and me as we sprayed it with a hose. For about 45 minutes. We also pretended like sticks were our arms and beat the toilet with them. And then this kid walked up with a Super Soaker, so Jesse made him squirt the toilet in the front yard. Oh yeah, and it was filled with red paint. After that we went to Casady’s graduation. They have bagpipes instead of Pomp and Circumstance and a “Senior speaker” instead of a Valedictorian. At the fun reception thing afterwards, this girl came up to me. I remembered her from the Casady last-day-of-school party in which we had our picture taken for some reason. She told me that it was developed and came out well and then told me she’d mail it to me and walked off. I don’t know how she knows where I live, and I thought she didn’t even have my last name. Creepy. After graduation, I went to Aimee’s house. For those of you who are less informed, Aimee is the friend of Jackie, who is Jesse’s girlfriend. I’ve never really hung out with them before, and we had fun. We went to the coffeehouse by Galileo’s and played 20 questions. The things we had to guess: Dennis Rodman, herniated disc, space shuttle Challenger, and big turtle. Stephanie came with her friend Cole and hung out for a little while. Then we went back to Aimee’s and watched The Way of the Gun which is too complicated for my tastes. I then went home at 2:30am and ate my first food of the day except for a couple pieces of pizza. Ay caramba!

\n", "date_published": "2001-06-02T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2001/06/02/where-to-begin.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2001/06/01/spent-the-night.html", "content_html": "

Spent the night at Jon’s, woke up around 12:30. Then we wrote a song. It was OK, but too “busy.” Lots of drum parts. Maybe I’ll filter it out later. Maybe not. Then I went home and downloaded a lot of games for MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator). Wes invited me to see The Animal with him and some people, and I was going to go, but I took too long getting ready and missed it. So I stayed home. I ripped out the ol’ Sega Genesis for some old school gaming action, but then Jon came over and we wrote some more songs. I wrote a really cool one by myself while Jon was here, too. Maybe I’ll put it up here to listen to. It’s more experimental.

\n", "date_published": "2001-06-01T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2001/06/01/spent-the-night.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2001/05/31/before-i-spent.html", "content_html": "

Before I spent the night at Jon’s, we ate at another Whataburger. The same manager from the first Whataburger was working there now. Larry Brust. He is a really cool guy. He stopped me as I was leaving and told me to have a good day. Whataburger is so much better. They cook the burgers right when you order them. No heat lamps! Then we watched Traffic. Very good movie. Jon fell asleep so he missed out. We also stole Alexandra’s guitar from her (with her permission) so Jon and I could write some music. We never got around to it today.

\n", "date_published": "2001-05-31T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2001/05/31/before-i-spent.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2001/05/30/woke-up-a.html", "content_html": "

Woke up a happy camper. Didn’t do a darn thing all day for once. Talked to Josh for a long time about nothing. That was the extent of my evening. I had a long discussion with Justin Coleman overnight. I know a lot of my friends don’t get along with him, but I think he’s a nice guy. So there. Went to sleep much too late as usual.

\n", "date_published": "2001-05-30T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2001/05/30/woke-up-a.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2001/05/29/josh-called-me.html", "content_html": "

Josh called me at 8:30 or something. I forgot to call back. He called me about an hour after I went to sleep. And Erin woke up four and a half hours before I went to sleep. How odd. Brian, Kamaria, Erin, and I hung out today. We went to Arby’s, McDonald’s, Wherehouse Music (on May), Sonic, and Barnes and Noble. Yes, three restaurants. I got a 42 cent 42 ounce drink, then spilled it. Jon did that the other day, too. Out of the 4 I’ve seen bought, 2 have spilled. Them’s bad odds. We drove by the infamous Whataburger (still closed for the power outages) and there were several fire trucks around it, inexplicably. Some guys were talking in front of one of them. Nothing appeared to be wrong. Then ten minutes later they sped by with sirens blaring to go somewhere more important(?). At Barnes and Noble I bought a book called “An ABC of Music” by Imogen Holst (daughter of Gustav Holst, who did Planets). It’s a music theory book. I hope to learn from it. I didn’t read too far, then the tornadoes hit. Deadly tornadoes. They didn’t hit us though. I don’t know, maybe there weren’t any tornadoes at all. I didn’t check. Then I went to sleep.

\n", "date_published": "2001-05-29T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2001/05/29/josh-called-me.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2001/05/28/jim-dropped-by.html", "content_html": "

Jim dropped by. He has the back of his neck pierced. Then nothing happened all day. Then I went to Jon’s for Memorial Day. We had brisket and discussed our summer plans and what we were thankful for. I was thankful for our veterans and for plastics. Plastics make it possible. Then I stayed at Jon’s until around 11:30 when we left to go to TV network parking lots. We went to Channel 4, but this guy with what was possibly a kidney in a cooler told us they weren’t open. He and the bellboy then stared at us. Who knows? Then we met Jesse at the Whataburger that was closed. The 24-hour Whataburger was closed! So we went to Wal-Mart. Then I stayed up until 6:30 at Jon’s then went home. Full day.

\n", "date_published": "2001-05-28T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2001/05/28/jim-dropped-by.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2001/05/27/today-i-spent.html", "content_html": "

Today I spent 5 hours (!) at CD Outlet. For those of you who don’t know, CD Outlet is essentially where all the overflow CDs that don’t sell at CD Warehouse go to. I ended up buying 6 albums (for only 20 dollars total!). One was T99 - “Children of Chaos” which is about the coolest thing I’ve heard in a long time. Too bad it was their only album. I can’t believe I wasted so much time there today though. I found a lot of weird stuff including a Buddhist-monk-style chant CD of songs such as “The Monkees Theme” (“Hey, Hey! We’re the Monks! People say we monkey around! But we’re too busy chanting, to put anybody down!”) and even Smells Like Teen Spirit. Didn’t get it, but I’ll buy it next time though.

\n", "date_published": "2001-05-27T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2001/05/27/today-i-spent.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2001/05/26/hung-out-with.html", "content_html": "

Hung out with Veronica today. We drove all around. We must have passed Martin Luther King Blvd about a million times. Also I got to see the Myriad Botanical Gardens for the first time. That Crystal Bridge sure is a weird thing. It was designed by I. M. Pei. He designed the pyramid at the Louvre also. I wonder how he ended up doing something for, of all places, Oklahoma City?

\n", "date_published": "2001-05-26T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2001/05/26/hung-out-with.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2001/05/25/today-i-went.html", "content_html": "

Today I went to Wherehouse Music and bought… nothing. After that I went to a Casady end-of-school party, and this time everyone seemed to recognize me. But we left when it got pretty crappy. It was at this house way out east that was all fancy architecturally. We (Jon, Austin, and I) passed out NSYNC stickers to everyone. (My dad gave them to us, oddly enough, right before we left. You should have seen the look on Jon’s face when my dad said “Hey Grant, before you go, I have those NSYNC stickers for you!”)

\n", "date_published": "2001-05-25T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2001/05/25/today-i-went.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2001/05/24/added-some-more.html", "content_html": "

Added some more links. I wrote all my thank you letters for graduation gifts today. Also added actual content to the HOME page. I really enjoy putting an excessive amount of links on everything. Whenever I have the chance I make something a link. I put my e-mail address up finally. It’s about time. I want lots of e-mail. Maybe I’ll put up a discussion board thing. I want to feel like people actually visit this thing. Maybe I should wait until I have actual content.

\n", "date_published": "2001-05-24T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2001/05/24/added-some-more.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2001/05/23/wednesday-may-added.html", "content_html": "\nWednesday,
May 23, 2001\nAdded a couple more quotes. Did the news page. Wow. Played Super Mario World today, then ate at Garcia's. Went to Barnes and Noble and ran around feeling generally out of place. I want to buy a book about music theory when I get the chance. Nate dropped off a CD of pictures to put up on the RLP web site. Oh yeah, for those of you who didn't know, I'm the webmaster for Real Life Productions, a video and photo production company started by Nate and Jesse.\n\n", "date_published": "2001-05-23T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2001/05/23/wednesday-may-added.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] }, { "id": "http://nertzy.micro.blog/2001/05/22/page-launched-added.html", "content_html": "

Page launched, added some quotes. Not much content. Hopefully will come later. All sentences grammatically incorrect. Fragments.

\n", "date_published": "2001-05-22T12:00:00-05:00", "url": "https://blog.nertzy.com/2001/05/22/page-launched-added.html", "tags": ["From the Archive"] } ] }