DDR pad of doom is here and it's awesome!  Yay!  I played for about 10 songs tonight, and I actually enjoy DDR again ( Read more... )

Here's the latest info on my super-awesome DDR pad's delivery status:

PORTLAND,
OR,  US 01/06/2009 5:54 A.M.    MECHANICAL FAILURE ON RAILROAD FLATCAR
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There was a lot that I intended to do that the snow either kept me from doing or gave me a convenient excuse not to do.  Now I'm back on track.  I already have homework for my first graduate class that starts next Monday - since the professor knows me from last term, he assigned me to present a paper on the 2nd day of class, which means I already ( Read more... )

It's SNOWY in Portland!


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This comic poses a really interesting question: "I wonder if deaf schizophrenic people hear voices..."

And here is the answer.  For those who have been profoundly deaf since birth: "They were all confident that they did not hear any sounds, but knew the gender and identity of the voice. They reported seeing an image of the voice signing or lips ( Read more... )

geekpdx and I tried to donate platelets today.  We failed.  He failed because the blood started to pool extremely painfully inside his elbow (it's called a hematoma of some sort, I think?), and I failed because the blood wouldn't come out fast enough, and then (after about 100 adjustments to the needle) the blood started leaking out onto me, ( Read more... )

Yay snow!   Snow snow snow! :)

I am a real honest-to-goodness graduate student!  Sort of.  I got the word that the CS department accepted me into the Master's program!  It's not official until the university gives the go-ahead, which I assume means checking to make sure I did actually graduate from college, and am not an illegal alien or mass murder.  So I should be good (unless ( Read more... )

I did the Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis this morning - my very first 5K run in 31:45.6.  That averages out to about 5.9 mph, it's faster than I've ever run 5K before.  Hooray!  I finished right around the 50% mark - just slightly over half of the runner finished before me, and the other half finished after me.  There are a couple of pictures on ( Read more... )

We got rear-ended last night while we were stopped at a red light on our way to dinner.  It felt like a really big deal at the time, and still kind of does...but when I go to talk about it, it doesn't really seem like it is.  It was a pretty strong impact but, cosmetically at least, there wasn't much damage done to our car.  It still needs to be ( Read more... )