Checksum Arcanius

They kind of sucked I thought. I mean, Linkin Park didn’t win anything, I somehow missed the record of the year, Evanesence won something but then I learned that they disavowed their spiritual roots — even Jennifer Lopez knows better than to deny her roots (“I still remember where I came from� — that’s her, right”). I didn’t even get any calc homework done while watching. Oh, and the costumes were mostly atrocious, with some fun exceptions.

CDex rules again. I used it long ago to rip my CDs to mp3s, and then I switched to EAC. Then EAC stopped working on my laptop, and I used nothing for a long time. Then I got the latest version of CDEx and it is even better than it was before and it seems to make wonderful rips. Straight to mp3 via lame. And its open source. What more could I want? check it out @ sf.net (sourceforge.net, not to be confused with silverfir.net, although both are worthy projects).

I have some really good friends. In fact, I am amazed by the quality of my friends. You know who you are.

So far I have kept my counterstrike commitment, but I’m not doing so well with the studying commitment. Not enough library time I suppose (none, to be exact). Other commitments are doing even worse. I blame it on my lack of diligence. In my life, when the going gets tough, I have tended to pack up and leave. I was good enough at enough things that I guess nobody noticed. Or if they did notice, they didn’t do anything about it. But that is the past, and whatever happened, I have to deal with it now. I’m getting significantly better at facing down irrational fears, although it still takes the active intervention my rational self. My big need right now is to find it within myself to stick to something hard even if the outcome looks less than optimal for me. These two things are related because — as far as I know — I have always done well in school courses where I tried. However, because I tend to back off from things that aren�t looking to end well for me, I’ve never really tried at a course in which I was doing badly. Since it goes both ways, and I’m not really sure which is the cause and which is the effect, or if its some combination — but the end result is that I have never really been at risk of putting it all out there and failing in a classroom setting — or any other setting for that matter really. I’ve been planning on having this Calculus test change that — the first test didn’t go so well, so there is a real chance I’ll do badly in the class. And I want to ace it, which is still very possible from a raw points perspective. But I�m having trouble getting into gear of this — I have only done homework once. While I am not required to turn the homework in, it is very necessary to do it to get the proficiency needed for tests, which require both accuracy and speed. So unless I actually try here, I will remain uncertain of my ability to excel at school when failure is a real possibility. I will keep you posted.

Otherwise, it was a typical Sunday — dropped off movies, went to church, lounged around at home after eating… getting nothing done. Until maybe now, if I’m good, I’ll do something useful after this. We’ll see. Well, this is useful, isn’t it? Or is it? Meh.

I’m out of my Lithium — have been for a couple of days now. I take it for combating tendencies toward depression — and it does seem to level my mood. So I should probably get that one refilled, even ifs it’s just the placebo effect, it’s a good effect. And sooner rather than later I’m going to have to have my pinky on my right hand looked at. An injury that went away after I ignored it years ago came back in December and it’s lingering this time, and its probably time that I got it fixed for good. My guess is that it’s a fracture — and if so, it would be the closest thing to a broken bone I’ve ever had.

Multitasking is great: I’m chatting, administering SilverFir.net, watching a movie, and writing up the latest entry to the blog all at the same time. Well, I’m mostly watching the movie and chatting, which is why after an hour I’m only on my second sentence here. Two hours. Three� ok, maybe multitasking isn’t so great :-p.

…

Well, The movie was good, and the problem with SilverFir.net was extremely obscure. Somehow, the loopback interface wasn’t up — so “localhost” and 127.0.0.1 would give different results, and I couldn’t ping myself. Thanks to a user (see http://moretti.silverfir.net) wanting to install Uberblog (see http://dris.dyndns.org:8080/) the problem started showing symptoms, and after hours of struggle, was figured out and (hopefully) resolved.

I’m thinking I need to get the next version of SilverFir up real soon, because the current one is going haywire pretty quickly. Gentoo is looking like a good option. Now I just need a way to upgrade with minimal downtime.

Since I am thinking about it now, I have thought of an ideas that I think should be considered for Linux distributions: instead of putting files all over the filesystem when installing things (as Debian and Gentoo do), why not put all the files for a particular program in a single directory (say, /usr/local/programname/ just like apache and mysql default to), then use simlinks for everything else — logs, config files, binaries — just put simlinks in the “regular” places – /usr/bin or /etc or /var/log, etc. That way, when a program is deinstalled, a cron job can go by and neatly clean up all the simlinks and there is no residual from the program. And deinstallation involves one rm command. Very clean, very simple. Maybe someday I’ll suggest this to someone who knows what to do about the idea.

Well today I made it to Larry’s about 10 — only Hilary and Eric were there. I stayed until around 5, by which time the mast of the arm was maybe complete. I wish I were better at doing the arm project myself, but there are so many things that I just don’t think about yet. It’ll just take time I guess. After leaving Larry’s I made my way to Sammamish — stopping by Amanda’s place. She was at work, so I stopped there and let her know about the test on Monday. We’ll be studying before class Monday. o.O

I never made it to Sammamish. I got about as far as the TV — with the newfangled cable TV we have, Monster House was on, and it sucked me in as I feasted on extra sharp white cheddar melted over corn tortilla chips. Then my dad got home, and we watched “Out of Time,” which I picked up at Blockbuster for free earlier today (got to love late Saturday nights and guaranteed in stock movies). Then my mom got home, and it was after ten, and I decided I would actually make it to Larry’s around 8:00 tomorrow, so I should get to bed. But first I voiced some worries about the TRC achieving its mission, using my parents as a sounding board. It was good to get some of my ideas — developed on my own and borrowed from others — out in the open. It helps crystallize them so they stick around, which is important, especially for good ideas.

I’ve found out that I’m no good at studying anymore. I tend to mess around on my computer instead of studying, unless I’m being really good. But I don’t have trouble staying on task in the photo lab, for example. So it’s a location thing. Maybe some visits to the library are in my future�

I recently shifted strategies on my usage of Gentoo Linux on my laptop. Before, I was more worried about the fact that Linux didn’t seem to support my PC cards for war driving, that the frame buffer wasn’t working properly due to the infamously unsupported ATI Radeon IGP series. Then I realized that I was missing the point. When I got my first laptop, an antique Pentium 90, from my dad a year ago, linux was the only modern operating system that would work. And on that computer, the framebuffer was impossible (although PC cards did work) — but it was an excellent computer for me. It got me so familiar with Debian that I was able setup what is now running silverfir.net in about an hour — plus some tweaks since then. What I am now using Gentoo on Kleinoscope for is to become as familiar with Gentoo as I became with Debian, so that I can feel comfortable switching over. Already, I am pretty happy with Gentoo�s system. It looks like I can easily get not only Apache, MySQL, and PHP up quickly, but that other things I had wanted to do for friends, such as Tomcat (for Clifton at www.InLag.com), are going to be incredibly easy. Now I’m itching to get sf2 back offline (ie, use wadi to serve again) so I can set up gentoo on the faster box. Sure, I’ll have to compile everything, but I did that with all the important stuff in Debian anyway, since everything tends to be so obsolete. With Gentoo, cutting edge stuff is available, but its also much easier — and the defaults seem to work well with me, so far at least, so I won’t have to move outside of the wonderful package system that Gentoo has. And it’s a Linux, so the things that bug me about the BSDs aren’t an issue — such as the behavior of arrow keys in vim. I’ll let you know how things progress.

I was feeling a bit down yesterday and forgot to blog. But with the length each entry has grown to, maybe you all (whoever you are) needed a break. As for today, math was uneventful, and in photography we covered what will be on the test on Monday. Since Amanda wasn’t there, I am considering a trip to Sammamish — might lift the spirits a bit. Once I got home I vacuumed the truck — it was badly needed — and I felt good. Then I came back and spent some time on the computer, and I starting feeling a little down again. I think I need a little bit of time off the computer (except for blogging, this makes me happy, remember?) So here I go to suck the marrow of life. Wish me luck. =D

Richard invited me to go up to the pass with him and a buddy of his. I hadn’t gone yet this season, so I readily accepted — but first, I had to go to photography. So I waited around for an hour — actually, I fell asleep reading the photography book (volume 7!). Then when class rolled around, our teacher showed up to tell us how much or a moron he was because he forgot the slides he was going to show us�

…So the seven people that actually showed all got up and left. I asked the teacher about the last assignment we handed in; in turns out its been sitting in the out box in the photo lab for a few days now. I grabbed mine out, but didn’t get around to opening it until later. Since Dan hadn’t arrived yet, I gave him a call as I walked out and let him know that class had been canceled. It turns out he’s terribly sick — so get well soon Dan! He asked me to take down his dry film for him — which I did (I actually recognized which film was his this time — another time, I couldn’t figure it out, and the teacher asked me to stop looking at other people’s film because “they might have pictures of themselves having sex with their children or something.” He seriously said that. I promptly stopped looking for Dan’s film, kinda freaked out. I think maybe Carlos has spent a little too much time around photo chemicals).

Anyway, back to the story — While on the phone, I overheard a girl from the class trying to arrange a ride home. Since I had some time to blow before my class was supposed to get out, I offered her a ride home. We had a wonderfully engaging conversation all the way to her house in Sammamish – and she’s cute to boot. Yes, I have designs. Its fun to be in this position again, its been a while. Oh, Amanda also opened up my returned photography assignment for me, and I got an A-. I’m happy with the grade — good, but still with room to improve. A lot like the photographs I turned in.

So, once I dropped Amanda off and we said out good-byes, I headed back home to get my skis and then I headed down to Richard�s. A little later we took off to pick up Colin, a friend of Richard’s, and head to the pass. We got there just before 4, so we waited until 15 before then headed up and got the night passes. With a coupon, it came out to $20 a person — pretty good.

Once on the slopes, my skiing form came back to me pretty easily, but my quads aren’t what they were at the end of last season. I was feeling the burn pretty good by the end of the day. Of course I was with two snowboarders, so they wanted to do the terrain park while I was more interested in runs like triple sixty face. But I thought I’d give another shot at learning how to jump. You see, I had a bad experience when I was young. When I was 13 years old, I went off a big jump and ended up landing on my head. The ensuing black out has caused me to shy away from jumps ever since. When I did go over bumps, I tended to take it up in my legs.

Today, however, I decided it was time to face down that fear and give jumps another shot. I’m glad I did. With a few pointers from Richard and Colin and a little bit of practice, I was able to consistently land my jumps. It still doesn’t feel natural, but I didn’t wipe out on any of the landing, and by the end of the day I was catching significant air. And it’s exhilarating beyond anything I have done on skis before. I hope to extend my distance and airtime over my next few trips.

On the way back from Snoqualmie, we stopped at North Bend’s Denny’s for dinner. I had an excellent sirloin steak with applesauce and a baked potato. It hit the spot. Food is good. On the way out, I popped some money in the big machine with the claw that grabs stuffed animals � and for the first time in my life, I got one out. It’s a strange but cute green teddy bear in a black and yellow jester outfit. Hopefully I will post pictures soon.

With my recently won prize, endorphins from skiing and jumping, and a girl to top it off — life is good.

“What we really need� is a perfect CEO.” –Me

Three and a half years ago, with guidance from Larry Barello, I founded the Titan Robotics Club at my high school. That first year, the fledgling club raked in more than $22,500 in donations, entered two robotics competition events and sent 19 students to the Silicon Valley Regional of the FIRST Robotics Competition for $50 a piece. The fundraising of the first year has not yet again been matched — but of course we got a $10,000 head start that first year due to a grant from the Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield, and Byers. The next two years NASA treated us to $5000 — enough to cover entry to one regional. Each of those years, the TRC entered two regional competitions — one in Washington and one in California. This year, the NASA grant ran out, and so far the TRC has entered only one FIRST Robotics event � the closest one, in Portland, Oregon. What this translates into is that the TRC has pretty much had a flat level of income from the community, when KPCB and NASA are taken out of the equation. The first year, the extra money from KPCB let the TRC enter a second competition and subsidize travel costs. The next two years, the NASA money allowed the TRC to enter a second competition. This year, nothing — no extra money, just the basics: Students pay for their own travel, we enter one regional competition (even though the club got invited to the National Championships this year), and� well, who knows. It feels to me like things are winding down. But that is exactly the opposite of what I wanted. I want the TRC to take off. So, looking into the future, I have to figure out what it will take to get more students energized about the TRC. This is the great mystery�

For more on the TRC, visit titanrobotics.net

As mentioned above, the TRC participated in the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC – http://www.usfirst.org). The FRC is a national competition of high school robotics groups teamed up with mentors of professional engineers and college students. Over 800 teams are at it this year. Every year, a new game is introduced, and a new Kit of Parts is released � and with the materials in the kits, each team tries to build a robot that will win the game. The compressed schedule simulates real-world engineering problems and forces students and mentors alike to balance the design, build, and test phases that every engineering project goes through. However, the six weeks of robot building are only the beginning. Every team enters one or more regional competitions. Throughout March and early April, weekends are turned into robotics extravaganzas, with thirty to sixty teams squaring off. These regional events are the real magic of the FIRST Robotics Competition. Sure, there may be better ways to teach the specific skills of welding, C programming, computer-aided design, turning drawings into pieces and pieces into robots, but there is no better way to get people who don�t give a hang interested in learning these skills in the first place. A FIRST Regional Event is part rock concert, part sports event, part nerd convention, and completely energetic fun. The FIRST Regional celebrates science and technology � flying in the face of our society that idolizes entertainment over all and pays more attention to the lives of sex symbols than to the amazing feats of science and technology (ie, Britney vs. Mars Rover). FIRST � For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology � is what we need more of.
And now, for a shameless plug: if you know of an individual or a company (including you and yours) that would be interested in supporting the worthy effort of a FIRST Robotics team� send them to this informational page