Thursday, May 30, 2002
I am studying for finals, but I though I might update you all on my weekend. I am going to monterey tomorrow after I get out from my first two finals at noon. I am going to my sisters graduation (happy graduation, Sheryl!) from high school, and so that should be fun. I know a few peeps wanted to do stuff this weekend, so sorry, but I really want to go see my sister graduate, if you know what I mean :) Anywho, I have finals mon, tue, and wed nest week, but then I am done with school until the fall!!! Yippee!!! I bet finals are going to take forever to get through now, though... ugh. Oh well, wish me luck as I go back to studying...
Wednesday, May 29, 2002
Man, it has been a while. Okay, the last update was the 17th, and it is now the 29th, so thats what... 12 days or something like that, and boy, has alot happened since then. I got a new computer for one thing. It is an AMD Athlon 1800+, 256MB of PC2700 DDR RAM, and an ATI radeon 8500 all in wonder DV. Anyway, more on that later, i am sure... So right now I am at shcool, and I just got done with another one of those stupid semester assesments they call protfolios, so I basically ot to get up in front of a group of teachers and spill out my life on a table for them to look at and pick through for 5 minutes. Wow. On my birthday no less! Yup, today i turn the sweet sixteen. the only question is, is have I ever been kissed?
Friday, May 17, 2002
Okay, so I am really pissed off right now at a company called 180Solutions. Let me start at the beginning:
I noticed my computer was running slow, so I went to my program manager to see what program was eating all my presious cpu time, and it was a program called msbb.exe. I exited it, and all was dandy until i restarted me machine. Then it started up again without warning. Well, I did some research on the web today to see waht exactly this program was, and it turns out that it is associated with 180Solutions. It is located on my machine at "c:\program files\n-CASE". What they do is bundle it with all sorts of programs you download on your machine (I got it from bearshare) Even if you delete the program it came with (bearshare), the ad program is NOT deleted. What the program does on your machine is atrocious. Not only does it (when it is running, which is all the time unless you personally exit it) make ads appear periodically when you surf the internet, but it is spyware. For those of you who dont know what spyware is, it is basically a program that tracks every moce you make while online; it stores the names of every website you visit. While it does not directly connect the site names it gathers with your personal infor (name, e-mail, etc...), it DOES connect it with your age, location, and god knows what else.
So now the question is is how do you get rid of it. That IS a good question. while the main deal is located on my machine at "c:\program files\n-CASE", it is probably everywhere. I got the best uninstall info here, but there is more online I'm sure. I even went and deleted its entry in the registry of my machine (mine was at "my computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software") Good luck with YOUR uninstall.
okay, so I am extremely excited, because tomorrow I get to go to fry's and get my parts for me to build a new computer. I will make a page with all its stats when i finally build it. Anyway, I finally got around to downloading IE6 this morning at 1AM, so I was exploring it and just plain seeing what was different, when I looked in the about box under the help menu. guess what version it was? it was 6.0.2600.0000IS Isn't that funny that 2600 just got randomly placed there? okay, maybe its just me. Actually, I got my first copy of it ever in san jose a few weeks ago, and I am very impressed with it, so go buy a copy off your local newsstand...
Thursday, May 16, 2002
It seems as if I am going to go to that one school in Anderson. I think I will like it. The whole school idea is pretty cool: everyone gets a computer to do projects, research, etc, but there are also real teachers there too. Most of the work is done in groups, like group projects, and shown on powerpoint presentations. I also talked to a few of the teachers at the 'infromational meeting' two nights ago, and they were way excited about it, smart, and were nice on top of that. The school is based on the idea of a school that was started in Napa, and it fared very well. Whatever happens, I can always go back to BQ if it is THAT bad...
Anyway, I am going to San Jose this weekend, and may even visit the school in Napa, but thats not the point. I am going to go to the fry's in Fremont. Thats not the point either... I am getting a new computer!!!!!!!! I dont have a terribly big budget, so I am going to build my own from parts bought from fry's, and online probably too, so that will be fun. Look for an update when I get it completely done.
Wednesday, May 15, 2002
That is straight out of the Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary, tenth ed.
If that means nothing to you, it probably should. I have had countless people walk up to me and claim to be hackers. I am intrigued, so I make furthur inquiries, and usually ask them something like "and why is that?" Most often I get a response like "I just downloaded Maya on KaZaA", or something like that.
That to me is hilarious.
I mean it, I fund it really funny. Tell me, anyone, what is the skill in clicking on the search button and double clicking on the result? Even my grandma could open up that .nfo file that constitutes as "hacking" and find the crack for any program. So now, when you claim to be a hacker, think twice.
One more thing. Seeing as how there are many real hackers out there, I would like to clarify one more thing. The definition with the word "illegal" in the definition is, not by chance, the last one listed. Why is this? I mean, the media always claims hackers have malicious intent, when there are many hackers out there who just like programming computers. So now that I have vented, you may continue your day, but just remember, be careful when you use the word hacker.
Tuesday, May 14, 2002
Okay, I am getting pretty ticked off at my website right now. I was working with the archiving, which I figured out, but now al my colors are all messed up... If you go to any other pages, some of them use my old logo, and some my old color scheme altogether... Please don't mind it, and I will fix it tomorrow, for now, I REALLY need to study for that test... lol
Well, I went to that meeting for the charter school in Anderson. It looks pretty cool actually, so I think I am going to apply to go there. I found out that they have funding from the state, along with $3.3 million dollars in grant money (patrially from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation). Also, there is a 1 to 1 computer to student ratio, there will be 120 students (that's 40 more than the school I go to now), and everyone gets a palm pilot. I will see how things go with it, and maybe it will be my third high school in three years.
On a different note, I am reading another book by Feynman. Basically, it is a transcribed version of a series of lectures he gave on quantum electrodynamics. It is very interesting, but if you want to read a REALLY good book, read his autobiography. It is the funniest book I think I have ever read (if you like that kind of nerdy humor), and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read a good nonfiction book. It is called Surely You're Joking Mr. Fenyman But for now, I must go study for a history test I have tomorrow, which is the last one before the final, meaning school is almost out!!!
I am now updating my sire with BLOGGER, which is a big change for me, I guess. It is different, but i don't know if I like it or not yet. I will see in a few days, and if I don't, I can always go back to the way I had it. For now, though, I think I got it all set up the way I want, except for the archiving, but seeing as this is only my secon entry, I guess I will not hae to worry about it for a bit.
Anyway, back to my life. I think I may have figured out where I might go to school next year. My parents and myself alike are very unsatisfied with my school (we have very differnt reasons, I'm sure), so they have been looking into a different school for me to attend. At first, they were looking at another private school that is just starting up, then it was boarding school. I said absolutely not to both. After all other ideas were of no more, I got a thing in the mail advertising a new charter school that is starting up in Anderson based around technology, which would be perfect for me. It is accepting only juniors, targeted towards bright students that have a B- to C+ average, but just don't like their school. I think I was meant to be there or something. Anyway, there is an informational meeting tonight, so I am gonna go to it and see what its all about.
In other news, my mom told me this morning that I am allowed to make a computer for my birthday, so i am extremely excited about that. I will get more info on that, and post it as it comes along.
Monday, May 13, 2002
Well, I finaly did it, I upgraded to BLOGGER after all this time of cut-copy-paste. It took me 2 hours to get it to work and interface with my old site, but I think I got it down now. I hope it works out all right, and please be patient as I get everything organized. Thanks!