Skip to content

The world without warcraft

21-Apr-09

What I’ve done since UNINSTALLING WoW:

  • I fixed pennyhero.net! omg! (and made two posts! omgx2!)
  • I found, registered, and started Networking Essentials class
  • I started Intermediate drawing (photos of art at some point soon)
  • Holy crap exchanged facebook emails with a cousin I haven’t seen in something like 18 years!
  • I’ve danced every day because I’m not playing WoW

On the to-do list for the rest of the quarter:

  • Upgrade website to wordpress 2.7 and get a theme that plays nice with sub-categories Done!
  • Finish reading Finding Time and End of the World Blues
  • Lose 5-10lbs (i.e. work out and eat less.)
  • Finish Metroid Prime III (ow this game hurts my wrist) and Zelda TP
  • Get back in touch with some friends and try to go hang out with them more (you’ll know who you are shortly)
  • Go to the Oregon Brewers Festival
  • Go visit my mom in Utah looks like this will be next quarter.
  • Go to the dentist
  • Dance every day because I’m not playing WoW!

If you’re curious why I took a break, all the usual reasons apply: I wanted to focus on “real life” and get a healthier perspective on things… fix some priorities, get back into reading for fun and drawing again.

The first week of the break was everything I hoped it would be; I was super energetic and happy to have all kinds of free time. I kicked serious butt at work, I read half of an ENTIRE BOOK, and started on a second one. I did all the research into taking advantage of education benefits at work, signed up for one class (lined up a second one too) and started attending, and I got brave and asked my manager if my “I feel like a slacker at work” feelings were visible to anyone else besides me (No, he said they weren’t.).

However, now the honeymoon is over and I’ve got to make a conscious effort to keep working at fixing my brain. I know there’s a real chance I’ll get sucked into some other addiction… Even “reading the internet” can be a dangerous activity for someone like me. But at least I’m conscious of it and actively working to refocus my sanity. There’s hope. :)

Anyway… time for sleep.

Filed in unfiled | | Comments (6) »

Phone banking for Obama (highlights!)

04-Nov-08

I volunteered for the Obama campaign and called voters in swing states yesterday and today. I really wish I’d gotten involved sooner! It was actually a lot of fun, and it was amazing to see the huge diversity of people who showed up at the headquarters to help. I wish I could have taken pictures!

Highlights:

I called maybe 70-100 people in Illinois, Ohio, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania. I talked with a LOT of answering machines and a good number of people too. I didn’t get a SINGLE McCain supporter!

One of my favorite calls:

Me: Hi is Justin* there?
Him: No he’s not, can I take a message?
Me: (*sort of flustered*… do I leave a message with this person or not? I decided to introduce myself) Okay sure. I’m Emily, and I’m a volunteer for the Barack Obama campaign and I—* (he cuts me off)
Him: Oh! It’s you guys. Yeah nevermind. This is James. Go ahead and say what you were going to say. And good work!

* = name changed

Needless to say, “James” was an Obama supporter. hehe.

Another woman I called also interrupted me after I said “Barack Obama” and seemed really excited to hear from me. Apparently she’d been volunteering and phone banking for Obama for months and was really excited to hear from us. She asked where I was calling from and we had a neat little chat. I don’t even remember what state she was in but that was a good call.

My VERY favorite call was to an older woman (I think the sheet said she was in her 80s. I’m not sure). She answered the phone and when I was done introducing myself, she said she voted early this morning, and that today was also her birthday! She said “And all I want for my birthday is for him to win!”

I wished her a happy birthday, and that I wished the same thing, thanked her, etc, and all the other people around me making calls laughed and a few clapped for me. :) It was great.

I guess a lot of other phone bankers didn’t have quite as uplifting experiences. There are a lot of people out there not voting for Obama, and even a seriously undecided and conflicted man my co-worker spoke to. He was still unsure who to vote for because he had specific questions related to the military (he was about to join). She did the best she could being sympathetic and giving him the hotline number so he could talk to actual real people (rather than a website or something) and hopefully he’ll find the answers he needs.

Anyway, it was a great experience. Very uplifting and inspiring to see crowds of people showing up to sit on their phones for a few hours. Volunteers opened up their homes to host phone bankers and train people. Some restaurants nearby also gave us space to sit. And then of course there were the lines of chairs on the sidewalk!

Not sure how to end this blog entry… Just wanted to share some of that. :)

Filed in politics | | Comments (2) »

very odd “spam”? comment.

23-Oct-08

AAAAAANNNNNDDDDD the winner of the strangest unsolicited “spam” comment of the year is….

A new comment on the post #176 “a BBS news story on creation vs evolution… ANGER” is waiting for your approval
http://www.pennyhero.net/2005/08/07/a-bbs-news-story-on-creation-vs-evolution-anger/

Author : BoodayEmago (IP: 67.215.231.26 , 67.215.231.26)
E-mail : toogimactof@gmail.com
URI :
Whois : http://ws.arin.net/cgi-bin/whois.pl?queryinput=67.215.231.26
Comment:

There was this guy see.
He wasn’t very bright and he reached his adult life without ever having learned “the facts”.
Somehow, it gets to be his wedding day.
While he is walking down the isle, his father tugs his sleeve and says,

“Son, when you get to the hotel room…Call me”

Hours later he gets to the hotel room with his beautiful blushing bride and he calls his father,

“Dad, we are the hotel, what do I do?”

“O.K. Son, listen up, take off your clothes and get in the bed, then she should take off her clothes and get in the bed, if not help her. Then either way, ah, call me”

A few moments later…

“Dad we took off our clothes and we are in the bed, what do I do?”

O.K. Son, listen up. Move real close to her and she should move real close to you, and then… Ah, call me.”

A few moments later…

“DAD! WE TOOK OFF OUR CLOTHES, GOT IN THE BED AND MOVED REAL CLOSE, WHAT DO I DO???”

“O.K. Son, Listen up, this is the most important part. Stick the long part of your body into the place where she goes to the bathroom.”

A few moments later…

“Dad, I’ve got my foot in the toilet, what do I do?”

I’m not really sure if this is spam, or a real person. Maybe it’s a spammer who sends out jokes ahead of spam links so that schmucks like me approve the comment, getting themselves on wordpress comment whitelists, and then they flood the web with really spammy links that get auto-approved.

If this is true, I’m screwed because I approved the comment. Oh woe is all of the internet. Shame shame shame on me. :)

Filed in unfiled | | Comments (4) »

Wanted: Daily Log app for iPhone

12-Aug-08

I want to log notes on a calendar on my iphone. I also want to be able to log several different types of things separately, but have the option to view them together on the same calendar.

For example, say I want a food log, a workout log, and a mood log. I should be able to thumb an icon, quickly type an entry, select the log name from a drop-down menu, and hit submit. Then, when i want to analyze what I’ve logged that month, I should be able to pull up a calendar-like interface that has my different logs visible across the whole week, month, or year.

Long story short: I want this application, it doesn’t exist, and I can’t create it myself. Let’s call this app “Daily Log”. Interested? Read on…

Stuff I’ve tried already:

  • iPhone’s regular calendar:
    Creating an all-day event on the calendar and adding notes is a cumbersome process. Plus, between a log entry and a regular calendar event on the calendar
  • iPhone’s Notes application
    manually entering the date at the top and just having a list of unsortable entries in the Notes interface is no more useful than carrying a notebook around in my purse.
  • GoalKeep ($3.99 on App store)
    Goalkeep has something like the type of Calendar interface that I want. It has a cool “zoom in” feature that lets you see the day you click on in more detail, and each entry is displayed visually on the calendar with different colors. However, goalkeep isn’t a log application at all, so obviously it doesn’t serve my purpose.
  • Any kind of blog client
    Blog clients have the whole “automatically date-stamp the entry” thing down, but they post the entry online, and the calendar view is only visible from a web browser assuming that particular blog has a calendar view (Livejournal does.). I want my entries private and viewable locally.

Here’s how Daily Log would work:

The user thumbs an icon, and Daily Log opens a “Write Log” interface including a text entry box, a pre-filled datestamp box (that can be manually edited), and a drop down menu with a few labels, the option to edit existing labels, and to create a new label. The interface also includes a menu either at the top or the bottom that gives access to the “view logs” interface (more about this later too) and “settings/configuration” where you can create labels, or change other settings.

The user types an entry, selects the label for the entry, and hits submit. Daily Log returns to the Write Log interface, ready for the next entry.

If the user clicks on the “View Logs” button, the app displays a calendar with an overview of a period of time (year, month, week), and displays color-coded previews of the log entries on the dates (a different color for each different label). The user can click on the preview to see the full log entry.

The calendar view also has a link to the app’s configuration, where users can select colors for different labels when in the calendar view, and can show/hide different logs.

Backup through itunes or the web:
This application should only come paired with a web-based service if it is for backup purposes only and does not prevent the user from writing logs without internet connectivity. I personally want to use my Daily Log at any time, any place, for personal, medical, or just plain TMI purposes, so I don’t want anyone but me looking at my log entries.

If possible, application data should be backed up when syncing with iTunes and not require internet connectivity at all.

Here’s some example uses for Daily Log:

  • Daily food journal (without extra “count your calories etc” database lookup crap)
  • Mood log
  • Workout log
  • Dream Log
  • Menstrual / PMS log
  • “here’s what I did today” task logging

Here’s what Daily Log would NOT be:

  • NOT a to-do list application (omg there are a million of those.)
  • NOT a reminder application
  • NOT a social networking client
  • NOT be dependent on internet connectivity to use

Anyway…this is one of the reasons I wish I could have taken more (read: some) engineering stuff in college. I’ve got ideas for tools, and the ability to describe them and design them… but I can’t make them. :(

Want to help?

Filed in geek, ideas, iphone | | Comments (6) »

new apartment! new bsg! renewed domain name!

23-Mar-08

Edit: comments are fixed now! stupid wp-comments-post.php had the wrong permissions again!

About a month ago, my domain expired. I did not know this… because I am a web slacker extraordinare and never bothered to check if my blog was still accessible or not… in fact, I only noticed it when I tried to ssh into my server and download the flac copy of Tundra 4 by Squarepusher I stashed there months ago so I could listen to it at work… and discovered that my domain was dead.

:( I’m sorry dear blog readers (yes I’m talking to both of you.)

Anyway… some IM Fu later with my domain name registrar super hero (also my previous roomie) had my domain name up and running again. I now appreciate you, dear blog and dear blog readers (yes, both of you again) even more now, so I decided to write a blog post.

*clears throat loudly*

In the news:

I’ve moved into a new apartment as of today. I’m very happy about this. :) Extremely!!! happy about this. :) It’s a 1 bedroom place, with a full kitchen and a freaking washer and drier!! Friends came over to help me move, which was awesome and amazing. new and old friends (Thank you Polvi!!) Then the whole mess of us went and hijacked another friend’s TV to watch season 3 of BSG, which I bought the day it came out, and have been dying to share it with people before season 4 starts.

So that’s the news.

In Other News: PranQster is the best beer on the planet. srsly.

Filed in friends, life | | Comments (7) »

“human idea factories”

14-Dec-07

Part of the first comment at the end of The poet who could smell vowels, which celebrates René de Saussure’s life.

“Thank you so much for your deeply human portrayal of the man Saussure. So often, as you say, we do (or perhaps must) reduce these human idea-factories to a few memorable phrases or greatest-hits concepts. And I think Saussure, because of how widely racinated, how utterly necessary, his ideas have become over so many disciplines, is more vulnerable than most: we think we ‘know’ Foucault, have a grip on who Freud walked around as, don’t feel we need to worry that we might take Marx or Barthes out of context, while the Genevan philologist cited in every liberal arts term paper and dissertation on every continent remains just a surname in a few thousand footnotes. Now at least we can see him in color.”

–Antheia Laplante, Seattle, USA

It’s apparently 150 years since he was born.

Have I mentioned that I miss school? My regrets about not taking more math and science are now in fierce competition with my regrets about not going hard-core into critical theory.

Filed in quotes, school | | Comments (0) »

xkcd… live! at a google campus near you!

08-Dec-07

I met Randall Munroe today.

Still sorta swoony. :) I’ve now got a signed copy of this comic:

I’m totally regretting being so damn shy and not talking to him more. *sigh*

In Other News: After nearly 5 months of no music in my car (due to that stupid theft thing), I have a new stereo in my car! I even got to learn how to install it! (Funny though that my friend seemed so surprised that I already knew how to strip wires.)

Filed in geek | | Comments (1) »

Comments were broken, fixed now.

28-Sep-07

So…

Somehow the permissions on wp-comments-post.php got changed and was giving anyone trying to leave comments an error.

Funny… it hasn’t stopped the spammy comments from getting posted. How DO they DO that?

If you tried to leave a comment on my last post proclaiming that I am indeed alive, feel free to leave another one. Or something.

Filed in housekeeping | | Comments (4) »

Hello, I’m alive!

28-Aug-07

Howdy world. It’s been months and months and months since I’ve written, and I’d like to fix that!

What’s happened to me since my last post? Here it is in ROUGHLY chronological order:

  • I got the job.
  • I moved to Mountain View
  • Had a Bad Person come to my apartment and had to call the police
  • Had my car broken into and my stereo stolen
  • I met some friends from HDK in person
  • I moved OUT of my Mountain View apartment for safety reasons
  • Got my car partially fixed (Thank you Shadowfox!)
  • Polvi moved down here finally
  • Polvi and Friends and I went to Palo Alto and poked Facebook
  • Went to a SMASHING PUMPKINS CONCERT

I’m generally having a good time at my new location and my new job. Making new friends, traveling some. I went back to Oregon once for our family reunion, which was awesome.

So in short: life is good, even when your car gets broken into.

My next short-term goals are to finish doing all the official things related to moving (like registering my car… I wonder how bad the fine/fee will be). I still have a set of shelves to build and pictures to hang up, and such.

We’ll see how that goes.

Filed in unfiled | | Comments (0) »

Job interview in T-minus…

23-Mar-07

I’ve got a job interview in a few hours, and I’m nervous as heck. My stomach is threatening not to cooperate, and I have been half awake for the last 3 or 4 hours.

I also had all kinds of crazy dreams. Like, sitting in a lounge waiting for my name to be called when about 15 minutes before my interview, the reception desk calls me over and says I have a phone call. It’s a client from my previous job asking for SEO consultation. In my brain, this gets mixed up with my current situation, as if it’s the same company, and thus I really should take this call to impress my interviewers.

So I talk with this guy about EngineWorks services, his options, how to make a site-map, etc. Then he puts me on hold because he can’t remember the URL to his website and has to go find it.

Suddenly I realize that I’d been laid off from EngineWorks a month ago and that this call is taking a really long time. It’s now 15 minutes AFTER my interview should have started, and i glance into the smokey room of rumpled businessmen who are to interview me and see their disapproving looks and their impatient glancing at their watches.

It was an odd dream. First dream I’ve ever had where I could read a clock. I thought time wasn’t supposed to work in dreams.

okay. i better start getting ready. *is still nervous* I think I’ll turn off my cell phone when I arrive.

Filed in dream log, work | | Comments (2) »