A Full Night of Board Games!

I've lost a staggering amount of weight this holiday season. Well, about a pound a day, which I'm very happy about. I can still only do 20 or so jump squats before I get tired, but I'll work up that number slowly. Until last week, when I put back on a few. Still, it's nice to see progress and it should only get better when I can start using the stationary bikes at school (it's wet enough here I'm afraid to run on the hills).

But, more importantly, tonight is a night for celebration. Tonight we enter into a new year. And I am going into the new year like I never have before: by playing board games all night in Seattle! Usually my parents go to sleep at 10 or 11 and then I stay up till midnight and immediately crash after that. Not today. Today I get to go to a proper nerd festival and stay up nerding out till 3 in the morning. I'm super excited.

Have a great New Year's party/entrance, everybody!

Shameless Self-Promotion

I finally got my bacon video done last week, and it's now live on my food blog (check out the tab under the blog title). It was a pretty interesting experiment, and through it I've determined that bacon is good with literally every other food I like. So go check it out! Yes, it's a long video, but it's well worth the educational value.

In other news, I am entering the new year at a board game party in Seattle. It's been a down year for playing board games (mostly because people in my dorm don't like to play that much) so it should be lots of fun. And since classes don't start till the 7th this year, I can afford a little sleep deprivation around the holiday season.

Not So Early Morning Student

I have now been home for a full week (plus a little) and have realized that waking up early just isn't working. I don't know what it is, but I'm waking up at 10:30 regardless of when I go to sleep. I've tried setting my alarm for 8 and have been going to sleep between 9 and 11, so I'm getting tons of sleep, but I just can't function that early for whatever reason. I've also had quite a few days where it feels like my eyes did some serious workouts while I was unconscious, leading to me being uncomfortable and irritable all day.

But, that's not to say I haven't been productive. In fact, I've been very productive! Every day I get in about an hour of exercise and probably 30 minutes of stretching, which is better than I expected. Because of this (and improved eating habits) I've already lost close to 15 pounds. I'm still not very close to where I want to be, but it's a definite improvement and hopefully I can add some muscle before baseball season starts. It seems my ankle will be a nagging problem for a while (maybe even a lifetime, as I was told this summer), but my elbow and wrist are in great shape and my shoulder is stronger and more flexible than ever. I still need to start throwing again, but that shouldn't take too long. It's like riding a bike, right?

My progress through Python has been pretty successful. Using lecture notes from class last year, Google Code University's short Python tutorial, and Learn Python the Hard Way, I've made significant progress through the language. Clearly I'm not an expert yet, but I do enjoy coding in Python more than I enjoyed Haskell, though I still really like Haskell. Maybe at some point I'll write down my thoughts on the pros and cons of Haskell, but my main thought on it is that it is a fantastic introductory language. The strict type system makes you understand what you're doing, and I'm a big fan of error messages telling you what line is messed up. Hopefully I'll be able to use Python for some web scripting I have planned before fantasy baseball really gets going.

Lastly, I finally upgraded my hard drive from a 500 GB, 5400 RPM HDD that my computer had in it to a 256 GB OCZ Vertex 4. My computer cold boots faster than it used to wake up from sleeping. I haven't tested the battery yet but there doesn't seem to be a significant increase in life there. But I love how quickly I can open files and applications. Maybe I'll have to upgrade the RAM later. The best news: I now have a 500 GB bootable external hard drive ready to go. I still need to transfer over some key files (my music, for example), but I have to take care of some basic things first, like getting my bashrc aliases back for my Terminal and fine tuning some folder behaviors. It feels good to have the smallest and fastest Mac in the house.

Happy holidays, everyone! Hope your weather isn't as dreary as it is in Portland right now.

Winter Break

I'm not really sure how that math final went. I know I got the last question wrong. Otherwise, I just don't know.

On the bright side, I'm done for the quarter! I already have my SOSC grade, I have my raw grade for computer science, and I have no idea what's happening with math or history. On the plus side, I get to go home and forget about it all.

I need this break. With school there's been little time to work out, and even the time I set aside for going to the gym just isn't enough. I'm going to be hitting the gym hard this break. My wrist has started bothering me again (and I can't figure out why) and my ankle makes these great cracking noises sometimes, but I think I'm mostly recovered from whatever was bothering me before. So I can start running, jumping, and lifting. Of course I won't push it too hard, but I think I need to get something done.

I also want to learn Python over break. Not all of it, of course, but a good deal of it. The debate was Java, C, or Python, and since we're doing C and Python in class next quarter, I figured I'd get started on one of them early. I decided to go with Python because it's supposed to be simpler. And most people recommend Python over other languages for beginners. Surprisingly, I've come to really like Haskell as a language. But as someone with very little experience in other languages, I can't really say anything worth listening to, and I should probably learn another one soon.

I also want to learn some math over break. This quarter was really a struggle for me, so I need to get as much of a head start as possible on the next quarter.

Finals Week Student

It's the holiday season, and I'm in my room studying.

That's good thing, by the way. Studying is good, especially when I have finals coming up. My schedule for the week is very front-loaded. Computer science 8 AM Monday, SOSC paper due Tuesday by 5 PM, and a history paper that I must complete in 24 hours (have to check it out) due before Thursday at 4 PM. So in all likelihood: computer science studying tomorrow (probably not any more today), writing SOSC paper right after exam, check out history paper right after SOSC paper gets turned in. Then I have my math final Friday at 10:30, and fly out later that day.

The bad news: I can't watch the Hobbit. I really, really, really wanted to see the midnight opening. But it's during finals, and I will be responsible with my sleep. In fact, I usually sleep more during finals than at any other time. Might not be a good idea, but it keeps me sane. Missing the Hobbit in Chicago means that when I get back to Portland I will be going with a gang of my high school friends. Should be fun.

I got a new hard drive. 256 Agility 4. I have a case ready to go for the one I'm currently working on. But... I don't have time to replace it. And I don't want to risk anything going bad right as I'm about to write a paper. So after I turn in my history essay I might make the switch. But I also have to finish a food video (filmed before I came to college... ouch). So I will put it in my computer before the 30 day money back guarantee to make sure it works, but it won't get a full spin-up till after I get back to Portland.

So that's my life right now. My ankle has been making popping/snapping noises but a quick internet search has told me that it's alright. I'm still worried (and the little fucker still hurts at the edges of its mobility), but I think it'll be alright. I have some ambitious goals for over winter break for both my mental and physical self, so we'll see how far I get.

Before I forget: I've been waking up close to 7 every morning. Though it's always cloudy these days, I'm up before the sun. What a great feeling.

In the meantime, keep your stick on the ice!