bittercupojoe

I am so proud of my country right now.

Note to the rest of the world: Your hillbilly cousins elected the first minority president of any first world nation. Try to keep up.

He stopped breathing. She was glad.

I've got a new post up at KillTenRats.com: In Defense of the Tankmage. Take a look if you're interested in game balance and the idea of classless systems.

For the folks reading this that play MMOs, which is probably the majority of you, I've recently started writing articles/entries for Kill Ten Rats, an MMO blog. Only 3 up so far, including an intro post, but there's a lot of interesting articles from other folks there as well.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/05/13/faked.attack.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Way to end that career there. I'm trying to figure out exactly what the hell they were trying to teach the kids.

Reading this is like looking at my childhood. I was regularly praised by teachers and my parents for being smart, because, well, I was smart. Unfortunately, I have always relied upon that innate intelligence instead of expanding on it. At least now I have a better understanding of why. Yeah, I'm lazy, yeah, I give up too easily. But now I have a much better idea why, and I want it to change.

So how do I do it? Yeah, the brain is changeable, but how do I change it? Any ideas? The stuff in the article is about how to not fuck up your kids by overpraising them. Well, I'm already fucked up from it, and I'd bet a lot of the people reading my lj are similar. So is there some way to work at it to change, other than by totally altering my behaviors, ie, working at stuff I don't like doing because I have no knack for it? I guess it's time to do some research.

Let's run down the weekend:

stinabat came up on Friday to visit and stay with us during a convention. Unfortunately, she got turned around by the Dallas roads and ended up calling twice for guidance. Due to my misunderstanding, I ultimately had to drive out to her and guide her in. We all had a nice visit while she was there after that, tho.

My computer melted down Saturday morning. Required replacing every component but the hard drives and the case to resolve. On the plus side, I basically have a new good gaming rig paid for by the company. Of course, it totally freaked out on Sunday morning, primarily due to the fact that the Intel-standard heatsink wasn't cooling it enough, and it was getting to 100 C, then shutting down. Another trip to the store for an aftermarket heat sink/fan fixed that.

We had the exterminator and the A/C maintenance guys come in Saturday morning/early afternoon as well. The exterminator was in and out quickly. The A/C guys were there for four hours. The unit had mold in it, and the compressor had corroded through. We ultimately ended up having to buy an entire new HVAC unit.

During the recent reflooring that resulted from our little flood right before Christmas, they had to pull up the toilets. I had already put the one in the guest room down, but the one in the master bath sat in our tub until Saturday afternoon. Karina asked me to get it down, so I put the wax seal in place, put the toilet in and was fastening the second bolt when there was a sudden "snap." The base of the bolt had corroded through and would need to be replaced before the toilet could be used. Unfortunately, the only way to replace the bolt is to pull the toilet back up first. So now it sits, waiting for the unwary that may try to sit on it, until I get a chance to go to Lowe's and pick up a replacement wax seal and bolt kit.

Monday, I had to stay home from work so the A/C guys could come and install the new unit. They got it all in with no apparent problems, and it did cool the house nicely, while pulling moisture out of the air. It's quiet, too, which is nice. Unfortunately, as we found when we woke up this morning, the heating unit doesn't seem to work right. It was about 60 degrees at 6:30 this morning, and the "heater" was running, but it was mostly recirculating cool air and warming it just slightly. They're supposed to come out tonight and take a look at it. I think I know what they messed up, so it should be about a ten minute fix, I hope.

Amusingly, I'm also Superman.

Your results:
You are Lex Luthor

Lex Luthor 89% Dr. Doom 77% Apocalypse 65% Magneto 64% Mr. Freeze 60% Venom 58% Kingpin 58% The Joker 55% Juggernaut 49% Green Goblin 49% Mystique 45% Dark Phoenix 45% Riddler 40% Catwoman 38% Poison Ivy 36% Two-Face 21%

A brilliant businessman on a quest for world domination and the self-proclaimed greatest criminal mind of our time!

Click here to take the Supervillain Personality Quiz

I got one. It rocks. A friend of mine works at a Gamestop nearby and held one for me. Karina and I had a coup el of friends over on Sunday and we ended up spending something like four hours just playing Wii Sports. the game that comes with the system. I also picked up the new Legend of Zelda game, but, honestly, as much fun as it is, I think I'm going to be on Wii Sports for a few days, even as simple as it is.

So, in all, great system. Oh, and you don't need a memory card if you decide to get one. There's enough on-system memory to keep you happy for a little while. Also, grab an extra controller and nunchuk, because the system is tons more fun if you can play with other folks. The only thing I haven't liked so far is that the wireless seems touchy. I may be switching to a wired connection for it.

From CNN:
Ky. poll worker charged with assault, interfering with election
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- A poll worker was arrested Tuesday and charged with assault and interfering with an election for allegedly choking a voter and pushing the voter out the door, an official said.

Election officials called police, and the voter wanted to file charges, said Paula McCraney, a spokeswoman for the Jefferson County Clerk.

"That about tops off the day," McCraney said.

It wasn't immediately clear what sparked the altercation. The name of the poll worker was not released and a Louisville police spokesman did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

"Shooting food into food."

from satyric

This neuroscience class is kicking the crap out of me. Since I've gone back to school, I've never gotten a C on a test until the first test in this Intro Neuroscience class. Of course, given that the class average on the test required a 14 point curve, the fact that I finally ended up with a 79 isn't too awful, but I think it's becoming clear to me that I do not belong in a scientific field. There's way too much memorization with very little synthesis, and I honestly am just not good at that. However, I'll stick the class out til at least the second test and see how I do then. As it stands, tho, unless I do incredibly well on the next test, I'm probably going to end up dropping and going to my second choice of majors, Government and Politics. Almost everyone I know said that would probably be a better fit for me, but I wanted to try this and see. And now I know.

http://www.tenthdimension.com/flash2.php

Click on "Imagine the Tenth Dimension." This is a good, short explanation about current dimensional theory in a nice, simple (as simple as it can be) package. Thanks to ps238principal for the link!

I can tell already it's going to be a bad day.

Hey there folks. I'm involved with Relay for Life, an event to help raise funds to fight cancer. I've had, and I'm sure you've all had, a friend or family member that's been affected by cancer. I'm shooting for a donation goal of $100. The event is this weekend, which I know is way short notice, which I have no excuse for. At any rate, anything at all that you could give would be very much appreciated.

https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=134953&lis=1&kntae134953=0F709E9BA5764BC7AD7C54E7C3769AD9&supId=70942970

I've checked with my admissions counselor at UT Dallas, and unless something very odd happens, I'll be admitted to UTD in the fall with 47 credits toward my Neuroscience degree. I still have to meet with an academic advisor and map out what classes to take for the next few semesters, but so far, it's looking good.