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[link to this post]
This just saved my life.
It's amazing how much 15 lines of code just solved hours of me banging my head against the wall.
For those of you who know anything about flash, the above is a workaround for scope problems when importing XML or LoadVars from within an actionscript class.
<3 whoever wrote that.
It was almost exactly one year ago when I went off on a rant about chico and what it means to be a Chico State student. Everything I wrote then still holds true.
I was reminded of it just now when I was walking on campus in front of the Library. I was stopped by a guy holding a clipboard, and he asked if I had been to a CSU, Chico sporting event this semester (which is just a couple weeks from ending). Without missing a beat or step, I said "nope" and gave him a smile. Before I was out of earshot, I turned around and half-jokingly said "I went here for a year and a half before I knew we were the 'wildcats'". He laughed and made a scribble on his pad.
I continued on to my destination (a coffee shop on campus with free wifi), and not two minutes later, my new clipboard-bearing friend shows up and says "not to be a stalker or anything, but I really liked that quote, can I get your name?" I told him my first name and what year I am, noting that it would be embarrassing to have a quote like that attributed to my name (our campus ID cards are called "Wildcat Cards" after all)
I don't know if he'll use it or not, but regardless, I can't wait to read whatever he writes :)
... to anyone who can find me a working torrent/download/ftp/whatever link for the album Consistency Theory by 1200 Techniques.
Labels: random
I drove up Highway 9 with my mom today, then up Highway 1 to the Moss Beach Distillery that's just south of San Fransisco. It was grand.
Labels: personal
My roommate spent the night at Toys-R-Us a couple weeks ago to get one of ten pre-orders for the Wii. Well, this morning he cashed in on his wait and picked it up. I've been out all day, but I've finally gotten back to be able to play on it a bit. From what I see, it's pretty slick. The controllers are a bit awkward at first, just like everyone else says, but quite simple to use and get used to after a few games of tennis. Here's a cameraphone-snapshot of Lauren playing on it:
It has a little SD card slot in it which we used to watch a wii-generated slideshow of our party last night set to Beck's "Hell Yes"; it was pretty cool.
I think the worst part about him getting a wii (other than, of course, it's not a ps3) are all the Wii-words. Wii have been going on all Wiikend with these wiitarded jokes - it's getting wiidiculous around here. Honestwii, I'm going crazy just knowing the game industwii has embraced a product with such a siwwi name. Anyway, I'm historwii.
***EDIT***
I just found out Arlen named it "teh nerderwii". Will the madness ever wiiduce?
I've shifted gears with chicowiki. I've been talking to one of the guys behind daviswiki, and it turns out that there is something bigger and grander in the works already, so I'm just going to help them out where I can with my not-quite-leet python skills. Of course, this will manifest itself as chicowiki, but with a bit more to it behind the scenes. We'll see how it goes, but I'm still really excited to see this happen.
Labels: chicowiki
I am starting to get really excited about the chicowiki. I'm probably putting way too much time that should otherwise be devoted to schoolwork into it, but I truly believe it will be worth it.
Currently I'm testing out two different wiki backends to start modding to my liking:
Now that it's getting colder (low 40's/high 30's) I'm getting snow fever. Also, I booted my PC today to work on PC SPIM and came across some video Charlie and I took up at Mt. Shasta a couple years ago. If you promise not to laugh, you can scroll down...
I was also browsing videos on Yahoo!'s Video service. I guess they paired up with current_tv when I wasn't looking. They are hard to keep track of. Regardless, they have a decent selection of 2-3 minute clips of snowboarding at its finest. Anything to keep me sane until it starts snowing around here!
I'm getting it back in my blood. I'm already planning a trip to Northstar with Cavan like we did last year. I really really really want to just become a ski bum this winter. I promised my boss I'd work 3 days a week over break, but ... if anyone has a hook up on a place to stay anywhere near any mountain, I'd be down to move in (I'd be willing to pay rent of course). I flaked out on getting my season pass at Shasta over the summer when they're only $200, but I still might pay the extra $100 and get one if I can find rides up there often enough.
... it pours. It seems that along with the rain this season, I have been bombarded with a plethora of ideas and projects for school and on my own alike. Here's a recap of my thoughts for the last week or so:
Shawna's Portrolio
Shawna and I have a deal going where she does graphic design for me and I help her out with web stuff. Currently, I am supposed to be making a kickass portfolio site for her in flash. Fun.
School
If you didn't get from my last post, school is crazy fun right now. I have a massive calculus test tomorrow, which is covering some pretty tough concepts, but I feel like I am somewhat well-prepared for it. I also have to program an efficient multiplier in MIPS that uses the shift and add method... don't even ask.
Photography Site
I am working on a deal with a couple local photographers to create a massive data-driven photography site for selling pictures. Whoah.
My pet project
I am creating a wiki for the city of Chico. It's going to be similar, if not near identical to DavisWiki, but for Chico. I'm sure you'll hear much more of this once it gets going. Do let me know if you know python and are interested in helping. Or if you have a data center I can drop my 1U server in.
On another note, I was on Veer's website along with the rest of the crew at my work. Check out our image submission for the Where did people take the Summer Activity Book". It looks something like this:
Yeah, that's me scratching my head wondering what is going on. Priceless.
Yesterday I went to San Francisco against my better judgment (more on that later). I drove down with Oliver, Shawna, and a guy I just met, Luke, at 8am to be in the city by 11. After a brief shopping stint, we met up with about 15 or so other CSU, Chico AIGA members at the Chronicle Books headquarters which is on the 5th and 6th floors of a nondescript building downtown. We were given a nice tour and brief overview of the company and a few processes of publishing books and gifts by a just-out-of-her-internship employee. It was alright, I guess, but I'm glad I'm not a graphic designer or illustrator or project lead for any publisher, let alone at Chronicle.
We also toured the student work at the College of the Arts downtown (which was quite underwhelming for a college that costs $13,812 per term), and went to a presentation of "50 books, 50 covers" put on by AIGA and the San Francisco Center Center for the Book. At 7pm, we stuck around for a panel discussion with the people who chose the books for the show. It was informative, but I feel as if the 2 hour discussion could have been cut to 20 minutes. It was, however, interesting to see the viewpoints of book lovers about the internet and all things digital. Theirs is such a foreign world to me, as almost everything I do is computer-based somehow, but these people are so content with their books that they are nearly blind to the digital world around them. Whatever, I felt it was not my place to speak up for fear of being shot down by the masses.
I said the trip was against my better judgement because it forced me to miss two vital classes: calculus, and computer architecture. Calculus is one of the classes you "just don't miss" not for fear of the teacher's wrath, but for fear of falling behind. I hope I can pull it off... In computer architecture, however, I missed a vital midterm which I am making up at 9am on Monday by the graces of my oh-so-old and curmudgeonly teacher. Who needs to know how to pipeline a MIPS processor anyway?
So today, my Saturday, I get to teach myself the calculus I missed while absent physically yesterday, and all the stuff I've missed while absent-mindedly listening to lectures the other 4 days a week I have been in class for the last few months. What does this self-teaching look like? Something like this 30-minute time lapse video I took with my MBP iSight at work just now: