Review - The Nativity Story

I was going to give this movie four stars out of five but I've decided to just give it three. It was well worth seeing, but then again I got a matinee ticket.

The movie is touted as bringing a new perspective to the Nativity Story. The only new perspective I could think of its bringing is that of the big screen; I don't remember any other "big" Christmas movies with this theme. But other than that the movie brings nothing new to the plate. That it needs to bring anything new is of course a matter of controversy; the Christmas story should be good enough, right? Well, with that logic, why would you need a huge big-screen production of it? Or is the Christmas story good enough as-is...does it have to be given larger-than-life dancing pictures to give it a shot of new vitality? Looks like the creators of The Nativity Story said yes, in a way, to this question, yet trying to keep everything else as normal\mundane (positive\negative connotations) as possible.

A lot of people will like\like this movie precisely because it's more of the same; they know the story, and now it's in a bit more living color so as to be a bit more palatable. Which is fine, but just saying that if you're looking for something unusual (except for the well-duh strong religous overtones lol which isn't really that unusual with the release last year of Narnia and this year's Facing the Giants) you'll be disappointed here. Well-done? Yes, pretty well done. Amazing? The story, maybe...the movie, not really. Thus, 3\5 stars.

Heh...

During Civilizations class today (aka American History) we started the Ken Burns Civil War movie. At the very beginning of the movie it said "The Civil War was brought to you by...whoever". Everybody cracked up, teacher included. So that's why the Civil War happened! :)

My College Status

First off, I've been accepted at Colorado School of Mines! I'm tempted to take the exclamation point off the preceding sentence however; they were pretty much begging me to come. I think they ended up extending the early application deadline for me by a month in all. *shrugs* Hey, that's fine with me. But CO Mines will only be a safety net for...

...MIT.

Which I'll have to wait till 3\15\07 or thereabouts to find out whether I'm accepted or not. Some key pieces of information didn't get in from various sources before their early application deadline, and they didn't process too many applications during early action anyway. So I must wait, with bated breath, for four long months, to find out where I'm going for college: MIT or Mines. Yup, it's a long time to hold my breath, but that's okay. I'll be working on scholarship apps in the mean time.

Well, off to FBG Chorale Mission. Just updating everyone as to my status in this respect.

Two More Quotes

Well, I just couldn't keep these quotes to myself for another two days, so...

"Your mom's goin' to the country..."

Yup, pure Sufjan goodness, plus a "your mom" joke. What more could you ask for.

And...

"Why X-Mas? God knows how to write His Name!"

Of my own invention. Maybe a little passe now that everyone's waffling between "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Holidays" but I think there's a point to be made in this arena.

Quotes of the Day: 12\10\06 and 12\11\06

It was too late last night to strt the tradition so I'll have to double up today...

This first one is dedicated to Kate:

"Because there really is a vitamin K..."

And yes, I was reading biology last night when I confirmed this. Why am I reading biology? I need the course for college and such.

The second, for today (the first was for yesterday) is dedicated jointly to Andy and Rya...they'll know why...

"From dyspepsia into apepsy!"

Yup, The Imaginary Invalid strikes again, and now I know what the heck dyspepsia is. Heh.

Well, I've caught up on my quotes. See everyone tomorrow for another quote :)

The Nativity Story

I just watched The Nativity Story at the Stagecoach Theater. In short, it was worth it. I am actually writing this on my palm, so a mini review will have to wait...but I will post one later.

Chorale Concert - It's Up!

The Frecericksburg Chorale Christmas concert, at least for the afternoon, is now up! I recorded it when it happened (while playing in it, no less! I set up my laptop in the back and everything worked out), and edited it the next day. I just finished putting it up online, and it's good. Get it for free (at least free for now...cost is related to popularity) at"

http://www.amiestreet.com/albums/cmas06a

Enjoy! I'll have the evening version up maybe next week.

Yay Homework

Well, this is just a short post, while I'm waiting for pages to load as I activate my just-received, red (mmhmm, it's really good-looking actually) Motorola c261 on none other than Tracfone (powered by Cingular; I know this because I'm really into cell phones). Because if I do any more posting I'll be encroaching on homework time...and I need all of that that I can get...

You see, after I finish this activation I need to do math for tomorrow (no big deal, just a few problems) and I want to do Spiritual Classics (Jonathon Edwards) tonight as well, though it's due Thursday (I'm also a rancorous overachiever...and yes I know what rancorous means and yes I checked the spelling lol). Tomorrow morning I'll finish memorizing Luke 2:1-5 (rather getting it down pat; I sorta have it down right now) and probably do a narration of pages 28-32 of the French comic book Tintin: La Crabe aux Pinces D'Or. The afternoon will be spent with another French assignment, that day's homework, a biographical sketch for Covey Leadership class, Plus biology, which I'm waaay behind on, and Boy Scouts. All in all, it's a packed sechedule for me...

So I have to sign off. Talk to everyone later...and maybe I'll someday get my picture up on Facebook...

At Bass Pro Shop

I'm posting this from the great fireplace at the front of the San Antonio, one-of-a-kind, Bass Pro Shop. Great place to work, though I'm having to use my cell phone to have internet access...and I'll have to talk to the customer service desk to get my laptop battery recharged...
What am I not enjoying the great indoors for, you ask? Well, in a ntshell, I have one more section to read on the Math IIC SAT and the whole Physics SAT book to read...and a practice test or two to take each...since I have one shot at these two SAT subject tests...tomorrow morning.
All I can say is...well...wish me luck! And hope that my phone's data access isn't turned off for over-usage (I'm actually not using that much data access).
One other nit I have to pick is Windows Live Writer has inexplicably ceased working correctly. Which means I have to post all my blogs via Blogger's website. Annoying, yes...defeating, of course not.

Brrr...

It's cold today. Not horribly cold, but the family car's windshield is frosted over. I'm fine in a sweater but my brothers are wearing coats. I'll see if I can wear shorts during Amblings this afternoon (yup, this would be Amblings #3) rather than the long polywannacrackerene sweat-pants my brother gave me...but then again the temperature might drop even more and I'll be forced to wear them :)

Facebook and 1xRTT

First off, I just made a Facebook account, due to popular demand. I was surprised to find that most of my friends are already on (!). I put up somewhat of a profile, and set up text messaging etc. so everything's all fun and such...

http://hs.facebook.com/profile.php?id=506930825

That's my profile for those of you who want to see it...though it appears as though you'll have to log in first.

As the one-and-a-halfth thing on this post, I'm working on SAT prep for my math subject test tonight. Physics will be tomorrow. I also have to do a description, or rather a brochure of how an MRI works. Fun...but hey, I wanna be here :)

Second, I'm actually posing this using my cell phone...using it as a modem for my computer! Yep, things are fun when you're techie. The connection, riding off of Sprint, is 3x faster, to my reckoning, than dialup. Small problem: I can only use 12MB of data per week. Ah well...at least I can surf the web wherever I want and at speeds faster than my landline will give me. Plus nobody will be yelling at me to get off the phone...unless I get back onto dialup to download a large file or two.

Gotta get back onto SAT prep. Talk to everyone later. Look at my Facebook if you can for posts there!

My Rationale for Blogging

"There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried. Not for nothing one face, one character, one fact, makes much impression on him, and another none. This sculpture in the memory is not without preestablished harmony. The eye was placed where one ray should fall, that it might testify of that particular ray. We but half express ourselves, and are ashamed of that divine idea which each of us represents. It may be safely trusted as proportionate and of good issues, so it be faithfully imparted, but God will not have his work made manifest by cowards. A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best; but what he has said or done otherwise, shall give him no peace. It is a deliverance which does not deliver. In the attempt his genius deserts him; no muse befriends; no invention, no hope."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

Not that I'm a humanist, but hey, I pretty muc agree with this.

P.S. This was a passage read in Civilizations class. It ain't all boring after all! YES!!! Anyway, needless to say, today's civilizations class was good...very good...

Sufjan!

I checked on eMusic today and Sufjan Stevens' Christmas Songs five-album set is all online now, a week after it became available via CD. The slightly annoying thing is that the whole five-album set, spanning six years of Christmases (one of which had no album), has forty-two songs in it. Two more than my grandathered-in (as of three days ago) 40-download-per-month basic annual subscription will allow. So I'm going to have to get the Christmas albums in full over the next two months, but taht's okay. I'm only paying $10.50 for the whole bunch, anyway.

Then again, what you get for the extra $8.50 when you order the physical set is the actual discs, the actual album artwork, an essay, a "Santa Sufjan" photo, an animated comic, liner notes and Christmas stickers, as well as a few other things. But hey, my friend has all of that, and I can look at it when I please. I just really want the songs.

Speaking of eMusic, they're now offering a free download for every day to anyone who gets their toolbar (for Internet Explorer) and signs up with their service. The two downloads put up so far are pretty good, and show a bit of what's out there as far as the million tracks on eMusic go.

But anyway, yay Sufjan! I love, I repeat love Get Behind Me Santa. Would've paid 99 cents plus tax on iTunes for it...except that iTunes song quality is bad. But anyway, I really like Sufjan Stevens, and his Christmas albums are no exception.

Speech Recognition...It's Nifty

...I'm writing this post using the speech recognition built into Windows Vista.  It's actually quite nifty.  It's sort of like working in a Star Trek setting.  The only problem is that accuracy is not perfect so at end up having to correct quite a few words after I say them.

Nonetheless, it's fun.  I am actually using a microphone right now, but I also have the headset which comes in handy, courtesy Skype.  I'm actually going to go get that have set right now...

Now I'm using a headset, which is a little bit easier to use.  But still, the inaccuracy remains, reminding me that I am not in Star Trek.  For example, I kind of got messed up just now...  It took me a long time just to italicize Star Trek...

Ah well, we aren't in the twenty-second century yet, and I'm typing this last paragraph. But nonetheless, speech recognition is pretty neat...

Seven Swans

OK. Here's the last post for tonight...I'm pretty tired so...

I was ableto master, or learn to a reasonable degree, Sufjan Stevens' "Seven Swans" on the banjo. The banjo part, that is. So now I can say that I've done it, and pure sweetness is in order.

And pure sleep is in order any time now. Night, all...

Stuck on Dialup

I live three miles or so out of town.  And I can't get broadband internet service via wire. Which really, really stinks, seeing as how I'm online practically all the time.

It's annoying that I have to go into town and use someone else's internet connection to download files of any reasonable size in any reasonable time period. Yet look at my choices...I don't get WIndStream DSL (which is $60 for 6 Mb if anyone besides me knows what that means) or Verizon DSL ($15 for 768k). No 4mb/$45 RoadRunner either. All I have right now is $10 a month dialup service.

What are my options, and the options for anyone living outside of town in my area? There are two options, really: WildBlue (sattelite) and BeeCreek (fixed wireless). Let's compare them:

WildBlue - $200 setup

BeeCreek - $220 setup, 25 GB/month bandwidth limit

WildBlue - 512k down, 128k up for $50 a month
Bandwidth Limit: 7.5 GB/month down, 2.3 GB/month up

WildBlue - 1Mb down, 200k up for $70 a month
Bandwidth Limit: 12 GB/month down, 3 GB/month up

WildBlue - 1.5Mb down, 256k up for $80 a month
Bandwidth Limit: 17 GB/moth down, 5 GB/month up

BeeCreek - 256-384k for $42 a month

BeeCreek - 384-512k for $53 a month

BeeCreek - 512-768k for $74 a month

BeeCreek - 768k-1Mb for $84 a month

BeeCreek - 1-1.5Mb for $158 (!) a month

Then there's HughesNet, but that's basically just a mor expensive version of WildBlue...

I'm thinking of offering some DSL provider $500 to run a line to somewhere near my house. It' just plain depressing living on dialup like I am. Ah well...will have to wait till Monday to call them...

Night everyone...maybe...

Trademark Disputes

You may have noticed that the web addresses for this blog and the main site have changed. The Amblesite name is also gone. As is the logo. Why?

Because a certain teacher...I've cooled down enough to not mention his name but you may be able to figure out anyway...sternly took me aside and yelled at me (okay, didn't yell at me but he seemed quite ticked off, as if I had given him a personal affront), telling me to get Amblesite offline this afternoon.

He said it was a breach of trademark, and the site was saying things that they didn't want associated with Ambleside. Something like that.

I reacted drastically, compared with how I could have reacted. Amblesite.com now redirects to amblesideschools.org (how can they complain about that; I paid out of my own pocket for the domain and everything). All mentions of "Ambleside" are taken off of the site (except what I'm mentioning right now). The logo is gone.

I actually don't think he socked me like that because of the whole trademark thing...

First off, he only discovered about the whole site yesterday. The whole trademark thing would have had to have gone...I think (no wait he's the expert on that sorta thing now I remember)...through a few people, and taken more than 24 hours to come back to me.

Second, "Ambleside" isn't actually trademark-able, no more than "Apple" is trademark-able (just ask The Beatles!). It's a city in England, for gosh sakes. I highly doubt that "Ambleside School of Fredericksburg" is trademarkable.

What about the whole logo thing? That's actually the only part of the site that might have been a breach in trademark. But wait...I asked permission to use a high-res copy of the logo for the site...from the head guy in the firm that made the logo! And I told the principal about the site, and she approved. Bases covered? I think so.

Plus, he didn't even mention the logo when he berated me for "trademark breach". Funny how that slipped his mind. It seems like the crux of the matter was that he saw on the site (I don't know what he saw...I don't see anything as horribly against Ambleside) something that he thought detrimental to the school. What, I don't know. How it would affect anyone, with the site getting practically no hits, with the only traffic coming from people inside the school as far as I know. I'd have to end up saying that his whole trademark thing was an excuse to get me offline...and he didn't seem willing to talk with me about what really peeved him.

So I'll talk with him...I'm becoming more reasonably outraged than simply ticked off at the guy's brusque manner. And if I lose in the discussion, this site can quickly sever all ties with Ambleside that it still has, and go underground...

Night, folks. Look for another post tomorrow about various things. WIll probably call tomorrow about the site, too...

In The Morning

It is twenty minutes before the beginning of...gasp...the first Civilizations exam. Oh, fun. But I think I will do fairly well. One can only hope...

Yes, I know, I'm posting this after all the exams are done. But I wrote it in the morning...

Chemistry Exam

I had a pretty good time doing my chemistry exam today. I guess it made up for my Civilizations exam, in which I spent an hour and fifty minutes completing only a third of a ginormous essay on the foundations of America as colonies and as a republic (yes, the topic was quite broad). I'm still wondering how much more I'll have to work on that exam. Probably a lot more.

But right now I'm happy, because I finished the chemistry exam with twenty-five minutes to spare. Plus the essay question wasn't hard...it was just a five-paragraph affair. Added to that, there were several questions that had to do with a little bit of math, or were easy anyway and had to do with numbers. There were two questions with answers that needed to be a few sentences long, but those were fine, too. In other words, everything was great, and I feel I did well on the exam, a very good feeling to have after you've burned yourself out on the exam before.

As a sample, here's the...no, never mind...I was going to put my exam essay up but I think I'll ask permission first from the powers that be. You never know...but if they do say yes my seven hundred and some word six-paragraph chemistry essay question answer is going up here for whoever that wants to to see. Enjoy...if I can put it up.

Inspiron e1501

I was looking around online several days ago and found a new laptop from Dell: the Inspiron e1501. Dell's first AMD-based Inspiron. The difference between it and my own Inspiron e1505 is that it uses an AMD processor, has ATi integrated graphics and isn't as upgradeable online. Oh, and it's cheaper, too.

You see, it starts at $549 (wow...one dollar...I hate that). But you can't upgrade the hard drive beyond 80GB on the website, you can't upgrade the graphics card at all, and you can't get the excellent Intel 3945 wireless. But then again, you're looking at an AMD box so whaddya expect?

Anyhow, it seems to be a fair laptop for somebody on a budget. A great deal better than the old-looking Inspiron B130, which tops out at an Intel Pentium M 1.7GHz processor the last time I checked, at about the same price. And the laptop probably gets better battery life, too, considering it has a 6-cell battery that comes standard.

Then again, this is an AMD processor in a laptop. If I remember correctly, AMD processors haven't fared too well against Intel on the mobile front. The base model has a 2GHz Sempron 3400+. Maybe, just maybe, the proc will run as fast as Intel's Core Solo T1350 (1.86GHz), albeit with higher power requirements. At least, that's what I've heard about AMD mobile procs: they like more power than Core Duos\Solos. And the processor lineup tops out at the Turion 64 x2 2GHz model, which, I've heard, can't stand up to a Core Duo, much less a Core 2 Duo, of anywhere near the same clock speed. And, if I remember correctly, the x2 takes more power than the Core 2.

But hey, it's cheap.And if you don't need a ton of power or a ton of battery life this is a great laptop. Upgrade it to 1GB of memory and it will run Windows Vista with all the eye candy turned on, courtesy its ATi Radeon x1150 graphics chip, which looks to be a bit better than Intel's own GMA 950.

But then again, I wish someone would buy the laptop so I could eperience it firsthand. Ah well. But it seems okay for the price.

Yay Exams!

It seems that every day I have a hard exam and an easy exam. Today and tomorrow were\will be no exception. Civilizations this morning was hard. CHemistry was comparatively easy. Tomorrow, Spiritual Classics will be ard, i expect, but Covey will be easy...mmmmm Covey.

Yesterday, however, I think both exams weren't that hard. Literature was moderate in difficulty, but it was quite doable. French was moderate in difficulty as well, which was fine.

Life is currently good. Yay exams! Now to preparing for Biology, which I'm doing outside of school...memorizing all the muscles in the body. Fun. But life is good nonetheless.

Blogging Insanity!

Ever kept making blog posts, not being able to stop? Probably not..which is perfectly fine. But I had to make another four-post wonder tonight, and this is the last post.

There, my post fix is satiated. My 2100-word Literature answer to this morning's exam is nicely tucked away, as is my French exam document.Sufjan is finishing "For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilan". My studying for tomorrow's Civilizations (up to the Revolutionary War) and Chemistry exams is done. Now to the shower, then to bed. I shall do nothing more tonight. I will leave the rest of my doings till tomorrow.

Nite all...for good, this time.

Mmmm...blog

A Good Friend\Classmate's Blog

Hey, it's interesting and I can sorta identify with it. Read on, reader.

Trunk Monkeys!

Just passing some stuff that's totally hillarious on to the masses. You can't help but laugh at these sweet flicks. Dialup users need not apply, but I had broadband access (yay coffee house!) when I got the email from a friend so I was able to see all of these commercials.

>>>

Suburban Auto Group is an auto dealership located about 20 miles east of Portland , Oregon, but they came up with a series of world-class commercials when they invented the Trunk Monkey!

Trunk Monkey!
Trunk Monkey 2
Trunk Monkey 3
Trunk Monkey 4!
Trunk Monkey 5

<<<

Snazzy...

I am becoming more and more impressed with Micro$oft's offerings as far as programs...heck...everything...goes. Just as long as everything is in beta, it's pretty good. However, things get a little crashy as well when one takes the beta plunge. Sorta like walking on a hammock: you can fall through the holes.

Now why you would walk on a hamock I'd have no idea; I sleep on hammocks. But then again that's the analogy I made, so I have to live with it.

And yes, I'm actually taking advantage of a Microsoft Beta right now, Windows Live Writer Beta, to post to my Blogger Beta blog. Wonderful how, to gain market share, the ten zillion pound gorilla of internet had turned to supporting, and besting, other providers' technologies.

Anyway, I need to get a shower and go to bed; tomorrow I have two more exams. Night, all.

Benjamin Franklin Virtues

Our first literature exam is tomorrow. One of the things we're likely to have to do is do a perfect rendition, or as perfect as possible, of Benjamin Franklin's thirteen virtues. For the benefit of all involved, here they are...and they're pretty good even if you're not having to memorize them for an exam...

1. Temperance

Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.

2. Silence

Speak not but what may bring benefit to yourself or others; avoid trifling conversation.

3. Order

Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.

4. Resolution

Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.

5. Frugality

Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e. waste nothing.

6. Industry

Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary action.

7. Sincerity

Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly; and, if you speak, speak accordingly.

8. Justice

Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

9. Moderation

Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

10. Cleanliness

Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.

11. Tranquility

Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.

12. Chastity

Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.

13. Humility

Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

Mentos Video - It's Up!

The Mentos video is up! Statistics will be forthcoming. The video is at http://a.memusic.org/mentos.wmv. Enjoy!

Veterans' Day Music - It's All Up!

Just to let everyone know, the Veterans' Day Cheapel '06 songs (and only the songs; the people talking didn't come out well) are now up online. Get them at

http://www.amiestreet.com/albums/asfvets06

Enjoy!

What AUS Is

I just put up on the static site a rich 'n' cream-coated essay I did about what Ambleside's "upper school" is. I'd say 99.999% of it is hard fact, but I do don rose-tinted glasses while writing the piece. All interested may go tohttp://a.memusic.org/whatausis// .

Also, the Trip de Chemie video is fully uploaded. Enjoy!

Veterans' Chapel Music - They're Coming!

Just to let everyone know, I will have all the music that we sang at the November 8th Veterans' Chapel up on Amie Street tomorrow or, at worst, the next day. Right now, half of it is up (the upper school songs and Taps aren't there yet). Just go to amiestreet.com and search for Ambleside.

Trip De Chemie - It's Up!

I am uploading the Trip de Chemie slideshow\movie as we speak. It should be totally online by 11:15 p.m. ...At which point you can get it here. You will need Windows Media Player 9+ for the movie. Enjoy!

Mentos!

Just to let everyone know, we of the Ambleside senior class (with the notable exception of Austin; he was sick YET AGAIN today) were proud to do an exhaustive expiriment with...whaqtelse...The Fresh Maker!

You know, Mentos.

Anyway, we tried various sodas (Diet Coke, Pepsi and Sam's Club Diet TwistUP) with both Fruit and Mint flavors of Mentos...and we even tried different-sized bottles on the Diet Coke to see which would spew soda the highest (we tried 24 ounce, 2-liter and 3-liter bottles)!

Nedless to say, it was a fun way to spend a chemistry class. The whole affair was simply amazing,...the TwistUP with fruit Mentos yielded the highest soda flume: over ten feet...and that wasn't even with all eight Mentos going successfully into the drink!

And yes, I will put videos up of all of our antics regarding this. Along with a slideshow\video of the field trip to the wine lab...sorry I haven't gotten that up yet.

But, the bottom line is that we had fifty minutes of fresh-making sweetness while learning how to conduct experiments (sort of; Reid and I already knew). All in all, that chemistry class made my day...and maybe even my week. But I'll have to check back with everyone on that...exam days let out at 12:15.

The other thing nice was that I finished all my homeworka t school today, a rare achivement...I stayed at school until 4 p.m. but that's usual as my mom works there. But anyway, all the homework is done so FREEDOM!!!

But anyway, exams let out at 12:15 and have a 30-minute break in between them. Hmmm...maybe, just maybe, I'll bring a 2-liter bottle of Diet TwistUP to school with a pack of fruit Mentos...let the soda fly! It's a good way to get all the little kids looking your way anyway... :)

P.S. I'll post the whole experiment results and everything with the videos. Which will probably show up here before Thanksgiving break. And yes, Mentos-itized Pepsi tastes good. :)

Network Stuff

Before I start into this, I want to let everyone know that I'm listing to Detroit (long title omitted) on Sufjan Stevens' Michigan album. The song is just one big peace of total sweetness. And after the song finished I'm going to do Covey homework due in three weeks: reading A Message to Garcia and scanning The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens, by Sean Covey.

Anyway, our school wireless network, when placed in full load like it has been, is giving up under the pressure. I'm thinking that one old 802.11b router just can't handle the stress put on it by as many as twelve computers on it at the same time. Why not I';m not quite sure; it's a pretty good router. But it doesn't hold up. Anomalies happen; computers don't connect, or disconnect, or don't connect right. Computers don't show up on the network. Etc...

But the Linksys router I'm talking about is better than the D-Link also sitting in the closet, unplugged. It would choke up on only five or so laptops!

Ah well. I guess we just need to wait for the school to get a decent router (maybe like my ParkerVision, or maybe the Linksys WRT54G), and complain enough so that they will get one. :(

Well, now I'm listening to "Concerning The UFO Sighting..." on Illinoise. Better get to work...

Night all...

Yep. This is when I finished my Red Badge of Courage reading. A few more minutes and I'll be in bed. Night, all.

Micaramba!

I ran a mile in 6:47.73 today during conditioning. Here is a narration of one page of The Red Badge of Courage. Not sure which is harder...

The next morning Henry was kicked by the tall man. He soon found himself, not quite awake, running, haversack bobbing and canteen banging, along with the rest of the regiment. Nobody, gasping for breath as they talked, knew why the regiment had to keep such a breakneck pace. Henry of a sudden felt thin-skinned, wanting to leave this machine that so enclosed him, but he could not. He had been forced by the government, it seemed, to come to this point…but he had to go on, as he heard the patter of fire in the distance. He might get himself killed now. The columns, shown by the breaking dawn, seemed to be men made from the earth, new-born of the dusty soil. The group traversed a stream, whose black waters were accented by bubbly eyes looking out of the water at the men.

Technopost

I'm actually writing this post from two different computers at once.

You see, I set up a wireless network yesterday. I had had a wireless network up before but the school wanted the router back (boooooo to Indian giving!). But now I have my own wireless router, the excellent, albeit slow (11Mbps vs. the usual 54) ParkerVision WR1500. And it's much, MUCH longer-range than the old Linksys router I had (and is now being used in the upper school classroom), reaching out to the end of our fairly-long driveway and thoroughly covering our L-shaped house, even though it's on an end of the L, in the garage. I have the family's three desktop computers (a media center, a server and an old Word\e-mail PC for my parents) hooked in to the network via good ole cabline, but my laptop, which I'm typing this post on...well, sort of...is wirelessly connected.

But the plot thickens! Searching for a way to do Remote Desktop to the server in the garage from my laptop (to tell it to zip backups and suchlike) I found it quite easy to turn on remote desktop on the two WIndows XP-equipped computers in the house...and even easier to access them with my Windows Vista-equipped laptop! Fun, fun, fun in the sun! I can also access the Windows 2000 server, but the connection is really bad...I'll probably upgrade that box to Windows XP soon.

Anywa, so I'm actually using all the computing resources of my media center PC, including its dialup connection, over a hi-fi wi-fi connection, banging away at my laptop's keyboard. Sweet, huh? Thought so.

Well, have to get back to my homework now. I finished eighteen pages of Spiritual Classics so fast I'm not sure whether I read the whole thing or accidentally skipped some paged. But nonetheless I have the main idea (actions speak louder than words in telling who is of God's kingdom and who isn't, plus a few other things that I don't have enough time to type about) so in any case I'm good. Now to remember it until three weeks from now, when we have our next Spiritual Classics class. And now to work on reading and narrating the Red Badge of Courage...then to Calculus...but first to the homework that isn't due tomorrow :)

Edit: I'm halfway through the Red Badge of Courage...but it looks like my math homework will have to be postponed...again...until the morning...perhaps later...ahh, such is life.

Whew...

I'm doing, as usual, about three things at once, and nonetheless I'm looking at being up late AGAIN tonight. But I'm going to make it. I'm listening to Sufjan Stevens' Michiagan album (not looking at its spelling) right now, and IMing, and typing this, and trying to figure out how to IM over SMS, and updating Windows Vista...all in all I'm doing a lot.

Hello All!

I don't have much to talk about, and not much time to talk about it in anyway. I'm just waiting for various free clipart sites to load so I can do a good flyer for our high...er...upper school's new labor fundraiser (rakes, shovels, other graphics like that). More on that later...

By the way I'm listening to Seven Swans by Sufjan Stevens right now. Good stuff.

Now in Shiny New Color...

So you might be wondering: where did all my blog posts go?

Well, they're right here:

http://www.amblesite.com/blogs/isl/

Being the geek that I am, I wanted to transfer to Blogger's new beta service. Which I couldn't do while keeping all the old posts on the same blog. But this should be easier to work with anyway. So I'm looking forward to providing stuff that's more up-to-date etc. than before, with less work.

So, sorry for the surprise. But the change is for the better. Hope everyone enjoys it! And take a look at the old site if you haven't looked at it in a week; I just made a new post last night. And it was good.

Well, I need to do math homework, and the end of Sufjan Stevens' "No Man's Land" (The Avalanche) would be a good place to get offline and start working on it. And that end is drawing near, so talk to everyone later!