Xatal » Personal

Preloading Left 4 Dead 2!

Paul — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:59:55 +0000

After much hype and hope, Left 4 Dead 2 will finally be out in just a few hours.

Because Steam is completely awesome and knows exactly what most gamers want, I’m getting the downloading done now with a nice pre-load (I’m currently at 20% and rising!). I’m trying to get some homework out of the way now because I know I’ll inevitably be up late playing this and spending most of tomorrow playing it.

I’ll post and let everyone know how it is!

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NO SHAVE NOVEMBER

Paul — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 07:00:47 +0000

My roommates this year and I will be celebrating No-Shave November. For the whole month, we won’t shave once. We currently have no plans to celebrate Decembeard or Januhairy.

I’ve been shaving more frequently than normal — up from once a week to every other day — so my facial hair grows back a little faster. I’ve grown my facial hair out a bit before, but usually I end up trimming it and/or shaving parts of it. After 30 days of not shaving or trimming any of it, I’m thinking I’m going to look like I was stranded on a desert island.

I’ll be heading home for Thanksgiving, where I’ll see my extended family for the first time in a year. Since Thanksgiving is near the end of the month, I’m definitely expecting some weird looks and awkward questions.

So, here it goes!

Oh, and I’ll post October’s traffic stats pretty soon :)

Paul, where have you been?!

Paul — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:49:19 +0000

I know, I know, I haven’t posted much lately. And I’m sorry.

This year is a bit more hectic than last year was. Living in an apartment means that there’s a bit more going on day-to-day, and my classes are also harder. Last week was especially rough — lots of piled up homework combined with a vector calculus midterm. Ouch.

I’ve been working on finding a good schedule for posting that I can stick with. Don’t worry, I’m still here!

And after that small break, I’m back!

Paul — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:00:46 +0000

I’ve spent the last week moving in and getting properly situated. I’m living in an apartment on campus, and it’s working out pretty well so far. The biggest change from living in the dorms has definitely been how much space I now have. Last year, I had to come up with clever ways of storing everything. This year, we have plenty of space and can store things with ease.

I’m living in a triple. Although it seems crowded, it’s not bad because the apartment has a living room that’s available, as well as a good-sized dining hall.

Cooking has been pretty nice. I have a meal plan from the dining hall, but I’m thinking that I won’t keep that for next quarter. We’ve already had a couple of barbecues and made other food in the meantime, and it tastes a lot better than dining hall food. However, who knows — once classes start, I’ll probably be grateful for the convenience of the dining hall.

Classes started last Thursday, and so far so good. I’m hoping to start regular updates again, but it’ll be hard to say, since so far I’ve been surprisingly busy. I’ve been trying to keep up on comments, so at least I don’t have much backlog to deal with.

Here’s to a new year!

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Getting packed up!

Paul — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 00:53:57 +0000

Well, I’m back from Yosemite. As usual, it was beautiful, and definitely a great way to end my summer.

Now, I’m finally getting packed up. Tomorrow is my last full day at home, and I’ll be spending most of the day frantically hunting around to make sure that I have everything that I need.

This will probably be my last post until I get fully situated, so in the meantime, take care!

And I’m off to Yosemite!

Paul — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:16:28 +0000

So now that I’m done working, it’s time to take my only real vacation of the summer.

I’m heading off to Yosemite National Park with three close friends today, and barring any sort of a disaster, it should be a great trip, filled with beautiful surroundings, fun hikes, and simple relaxation.

Going in the middle of the week in September may seem a bit weird, but it was the best choice for us — none of us were too busy in the middle of the week, and since weekends fill up fast, it made sense to go when it’d (hopefully) be less crowded.

I’ve got a four hour drive ahead of me here, but luckily I enjoy driving.

I’ll try to take some pictures and post them when I get back!

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Just finished my last day at work!

Paul — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:05:02 +0000

After working six mornings a week for the last two months, I’m ready for a break. I worked at this job for about two and a half years in high school, and now I came back after my freshman year to work my fourth summer there.

The work has never been bad (I clean pools), and my boss has been an awesome guy, but let’s face it — I like to sleep in. Getting up at 6:30 every morning just isn’t me, and I’m glad I can finally sleep in. Ironically, I’ll get far more sleep at school than I get at home — my earliest class this quarter is at 11 AM.

I made a decent amount of money this year, and considering that many of my friends didn’t have jobs at all due to the recession, I’m not complaining at all. I’m still undecided about if I’ll get a job this year at school or not, but we’ll see.

For now, it’s time to enjoy my last week at home!

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Things Paul needs for college

Paul — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 07:00:59 +0000

So I’ve put off my own dorm shopping for next year a litttttle bit too long, but now it’s time to finally get everything together.

Luckily, I have most of my supplies from last year that I can still use — I’m fine on hangers and towels, and I have enough fabric softener sheets to last me until I graduate. However, I am low on quite a few supplies, and now that I’m in an apartment, there are a few other things I’ll be needing to pick up as well.

Last year, I ended up forgetting a lot of key supplies because I never kept track of what I needed, but this year I’ve decided to get smart and have been keeping an ongoing list of what I need.

Here’s my “To Get List” so far:

Bathroom supplies — toothpaste, deodorant, soap, shampoo, and so forth. Gotta have all of these!
Batteries. Last year when I needed a pair of AA batteries, no one on my floor had any. This year, I’m going to be ready.
Shower Curtain. I’m looking for a dinosaur one.
TV Cable. A TV’s no good if you can’t watch anything on it
A bottle opener. For sparkling cider! I swear!
Protein. I’ve been good about working out this summer, and I’m hoping some expensive protein will encourage me to keep the habit going through the school year.
Diced foam and new bedsheets. Last year, my bed sucked. This year, I’m going to make my dorm bed as comfortable as I can.
Laundry detergent and quarters. I go through probably $50 in quarters a year to do my laundry. I’m always running out.
Umbrella. I was always fine in high school without one, so I assumed I’d be okay in college too, but in reality I was pretty miserable. This year, I’m going to be prepared.

So sometime in the next several days, I’m going to be going shopping and picking up what I need. None of the items are too expensive, but it does add up, so I’m prepared to spend about $150. Oh well, college isn’t known for being cheap.

Also, it’s 9/9/9!

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Now running Windows 7!

Paul — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 22:16:18 +0000

I apologize for the lack of posts, I’ve been rather busy these past few days. One of my big projects was upgrading to Windows 7 Professional Edition.

Upgrading an operating system or switching computers is never a quick task, and moving over gigabytes of music, movies, and games, organizing partitions, and mass-installing programs always makes for a long day.

But I’m loving Windows 7! Here’s what I’ve noticed:

The new taskbar.

The most noticeable difference from Vista, the new taskbar allows you to collapse open windows into just titles and group them together. Personally I like spreading my icons out throughout the taskbar (that’s what it’s there for!), so I have my taskbar set to be somewhat of a hybrid between Vista and the new design.

It’s fast!

Vista used to take me about 3 minutes to start up fully — the first 90 seconds brought me to the login screen, the next 90 seconds were spent initializing the desktop. Windows 7 starts up fully in about half that time, and shuts down even faster.

Aero runs great.

Aero, the glassy and modern interface of Vista, lagged a little for me on Vista, but on Windows 7 it’s completely fluid and feels very intuitive. Even if you choose to have Aero disabled, the Windows 7 Basic theme still looks pretty appealing in its own right.

The show desktop button is crucial.

I always used to hit Windows + D to go straight to the desktop, but having a small icon at the right side of the taskbar is even better. With a quick click, everything minimizes.

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And so my freshman year has ended.

Paul — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 08:16:46 +0000

At 4:30 AM last September, I woke up to my loud and annoying alarm clock for the last time. I threw the last of my luggage into the car and made one last quick check through my bedroom to make sure that I hadn’t missed anything important. As I turned on my iPod, I said one last goodbye to my house before leaving for college.

The drive was pretty long and I was definitely sad. Leaving the town that had been my home for the last nineteen years was definitely a weird feeling. Even though I’ve never especially liked the town, it’s always been “home” to me. I was sad knowing that all my friends (and my girlfriend) would still be back at home, and that I would have to hope I could make just as close of friends.

Moving in was a bit unnerving. Seeing the empty dorm room was very intimidating, knowing in the back of my head that I’d have to make it feel like home the best that I could. As I said goodbye to my parents that night, I knew that I was really on my own now, with a stranger as a roommate in a place where I knew virtually nobody.

June

9 months later, and I’ve fallen in love with my school.

My new home

By the time I moved out of my dorm, I’d become close friends with a great group of people. I’d learned a lot about myself, other people, and the world in general. I was exposed to things I never thought I would be — both good and bad — and I grew because of it.

Seeing the empty dorm room at first was scary, but seeing the same room empty at the end of the year was all but heartbreaking. As I walked through the dorms one last time before I began the long drive back home, I thought back on all of the memories from the year and smiled sadly. From the repetitive dorm food, to the trips to the beach, to the hundreds of inside jokes we made, it’s been one hell of a year. The place that I was so scared of coming to has become my new home.

Going to college has been the best choice I’ve ever made this far, and I really understand why people hold higher education in such high esteem. To those who don’t leave home for college, it’s impossible explain. The excitement isn’t just about huge parties and football games, but the experience as a whole: leaving home, meeting entirely different people, working hard for something, and learning to live.

I’m just glad I still have three more to go.

Xatal » Personal

Preloading Left 4 Dead 2!

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NO SHAVE NOVEMBER

Most Popular Posts

Paul, where have you been?!

Most Popular Posts

And after that small break, I’m back!

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Getting packed up!

Most Popular Posts

And I’m off to Yosemite!

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Just finished my last day at work!

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Things Paul needs for college

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Now running Windows 7!

The new taskbar.

It’s fast!

Aero runs great.

The show desktop button is crucial.

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And so my freshman year has ended.

June

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