I’m going to my first college party tonight!
< 1 minute read
October 31, 2003, 6:19 PM
Yes, it’s halloween, and I’m going to my first ever college party. Oh, I feel like such a freshman, but unlike the freshies, I’m legal to drink.
I feel like such a nerd… I’m 22 years old, and a fifth-year senior, and only now am I going to my first party.
Categories: JMU
Wilson Hall is starting to look like a campground!
< 1 minute read
October 30, 2003, 8:36 PM
The night before Halloween, there’s bunches of people camped out in Wilson Hall waiting to sign up for Alternative Spring Break trips. From what I understand, there are limited spaces on these trips, and so if you want the one you want, you really have to get there early and then camp out to hold your spot.
Alternative Spring Break trips, for those of you who don’t know, are basically community service trips to different areas both in the United States and in other countries. And it has quite a history of high involvement at JMU.
I did something similar quite recently – an alternative fall break trip to Pittsburgh about two weeks ago, where we worked at a soup kitchen, a drop in center, and Sojourner House.
However, the camping is where I draw the line. With the LPCM alternative fall break trip, we took as many as wanted to go. All I had to do was fill out the proper paperwork, which took five minutes. But there is no way in HELL that I’m camping on the floor of Wilson Hall, no matter how noble the cause. There’s just something about a cold, hard concrete floor that doesn’t go over well with me.
All in all, I commend them for their dedication to service, but I’ll pass on the floor, thank you.
Categories: JMU
Guys want to support breast cancer awareness, too, but not all of us are secure enough in our masculinity to wear the shirts…
2 minute read
October 30, 2003, 6:56 PM
Look at this picture, an LPCM file photo that I took way back in fall 2002:
The girl on the left is my friend Laura from LPCM. She is wearing the pink “MADISON” shirts that a group on campus is selling in regards to raising money to fight breast cancer. Now I’m all for supporting medical research. Anything that gets people to the next birthday is great by any means. I just think that pink alone is limiting their market just a little bit.
Continue reading…Spam seems to officially be crippling Email, but not how you would think…
< 1 minute read
October 30, 2003, 11:21 AM
Yes, spam, as in unsolicited commercial Email, is crippling the Email system. But not how you think. It seems that as a result of people and their overzealous spam filters that nowadays I’m more astonished when Email DOES arrive than it getting eaten.
It used to be so easy to get Emails through to people. Address, message, subject, and voila. Done. If I need to send a file as previously discussed, I attach it and go.
Nowadays, there have been cases of all kinds of messages being eaten. Kathleen, the LPCM campus minister, recently sent me a whole bunch of stuff that never showed up, eaten up by the Email monster. I Emailed Dr. Teske a sound that we had previously discussed. Never showed up, though interestingly enough, it did show up for the friend I CC-ed it to who’s on the same server. I Emailed Dr. Skelley a paper recently, and it never showed up. Very frustrating…
At least I got the spam filters taken off of Schumin Web. You send something to my Email address, and I can assure you, I will get it. This after I nearly lost some domain names because the spam filter was eating my confirmation Emails.
It’s sad when I can say that the spammers are winning in destroying Email, but not directly due to their own activities, but rather some overzealous filtering techniques that will eat more Emails than they let through.
Categories: Internet, Schumin Web meta
Strawberry Pocky!
< 1 minute read
October 27, 2003, 2:40 PM
Yes, another one of those quizzes. This one about the Pocky crunchy cookie-sticks. I’m strawberry Pocky. Good stuff, that Pocky. You can get it in places that sell Asian products, or just slide on down to the Chinatown nearest you.
Categories: Netculture
I never thought I’d see a kids’ version of Survivor…
< 1 minute read
October 25, 2003, 11:16 AM
I watched Saturday morning cartoons this morning… I’m amazed what they do nowadays. Of course, it’s better than one cheesy cartoon after another like it used to be, but still this is amazing.
We start out with a children’s version of Trading Spaces. Here, two kids and one friend each, plus a designer and a decorator each, trade spaces and redecorate the other’s room. Different designers and different host from the regular show, but still interesting. A major difference I noticed is that they don’t mention their budget at all. All in all, though, I enjoy Trading Spaces in general, and this was no exception.
Then there’s “Endurance 2”. This reminds me of a kiddie version of Survivor, except it appears that the kids get to shower and get, like, real accommodations during the show, compared to regular Survivor, where they totally had to fend for themselves. Still, they have stunts and a form of “Tribal Council” where teams who are marked for elimination play “Paper, Rock, Scissors” with elements wood, water, and fire. Interesting.
Interesting what they show nowadays, indeed…
Categories: Television
I managed to get it right – my number is nonpublished!
< 1 minute read
October 23, 2003, 10:33 PM
Well… kind of. I did manage to get away with having no phone number listed in the JMU phone directory, which I did intentionally. However, I still do have an entry in the phone book and my address is listed, but I doubt many JMU students will actually drive out to Stuarts Draft to go visit me. Besides, it’s more interesting to send me to them, since it’s a way to get out of the house.
A “real” nonpublished listing, by the way, would not appear in the phone book at all, and would show up as “NONPUB” in a directory assistance service.
Still, I am quite pleased with myself, since I’d had problems with prank calls in the past. And with dorm numbers, you have one choice: published. So I’d get drunks calling me on Friday nights trying to get some entertainment. Now, I can work in peace on Friday nights, and not have to worry about getting a phone call, because JMU doesn’t have it.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering what my obsession is with having a nonpublished number, it’s several reasons. First of all, the whole thing with the drunks, plus after working for CFW/nTelos/Telegate for almost five years, I’ve seen the whole non-published listing thing, and how well it works. And lastly, speaking of my former employer, after almost five years of working in a phone job, what makes you think I particularly want to spend more time on the phone?
Categories: JMU
“Student of the Month” eh? Glad I’m ineligible for that…
2 minute read
October 23, 2003, 5:28 PM
As announced in the October 23 edition of The Breeze, the Student Government Association at JMU will now be picking a “Student of the Month” from nominations by students, organizations, faculty/staff, administrators, or themselves (the last one which we call “shameless self promotion”).
The requirements to be the Student of the Month are to have at least a 2.0 GPA, be a full-time student, be in good standing, and that only the past 90 days can be considered.
The winner gets a $50 gift certificate to the JMU Bookstore, lunch or dinner with Linwood Rose (JMU President), and a formal resolution of recognition from the SGA Senate.
I am ineligible for the Student of the Month program due to my being somewhat less than full-time this semester (I’m taking six hours, and you need twelve to be considered full-time). Just as well, though. People are always surprised to hear this, but I absolutely HATE public recognition. I despise it. It means very little to me to be recognized publicly in front of a bunch of people. In fact, I can’t stand public recognition and award ceremonies so much that I would deliberately miss recognition functions (and they would have to track me down later to give me the award), and I absolutely refuse to attend my own college graduation at JMU. Seriously. I simply want to receive my degree in the mail and then quietly fade from the JMU scene. Seriously.
Categories: JMU
Well, part one of the battle is solved…
< 1 minute read
October 22, 2003, 1:53 PM
Well, it turns out that some filters at Schumin Web were eating the Emails. My tech people will be hearing from me. Meanwhile, though, we sent the GoDaddy authorizations through a different route, and I was able to authorize them just fine. Now I pulled all the eHost strings I was supposed to, getting the authorization codes for some and unlocking others, and so the domains ought to move right over just fine, though as the losing (or should we say loser) registrar, they could still screw it up. But we all hope they don’t…
Categories: Internet
It’s times like this when I’m amazed the Internet even works!
< 1 minute read
October 22, 2003, 12:50 PM
Lately I’ve been trying to do registrar transfers for my different domain names because the new registrar is much cheaper than the old registrar. And amazingly, both seem to be screwing up today. eHost (a reseller for eNom) is looking in amazement at me as I work to transfer ALL my domains away from them. Meanwhile, GoDaddy is having problems sending my confirmation Emails.
And on top of that, the domain I originally tried to transfer to GoDaddy during the summer bombed miserably, since eHost totally had no idea what they were doing as they couldn’t supply me my .org authorization code. I actually had to go so far as to renew that domain with them (which I didn’t want to do), which went through. All the while, they’re swearing on their mother’s right kidney that GoDaddy is the registrar for schuminweb.org, while I’m swearing on their mother’s left kidney that eHost/eNom is the registrar, and that a WHOIS search shows them as the registrar, and I recently renewed with them and it went through just fine.
For GoDaddy, that seems to be a rather easy issue, since I think that the Emails are getting eaten up somewhere along the line, and I’ve Emailed my people to get rid of any spamfilters that they have on my Email. Now eHost, on the other hand… it almost seems as if I need to go down to wherever their offices are and make some heads roll, because this is downright nutty what they’re doing.
Categories: Internet
Back from Pittsburgh, and what a time it was…
2 minute read
October 20, 2003, 9:41 PM
I actually got back from Pittsburgh yesterday, but I was SO tired yesterday, this journal was about the last thing on my mind.
Anyway, though, it was interesting. We worked at a soup kitchen, we helped with distribution of food, visited a drop-in center for homeless people, and of course, our main event: cleaning carpets at Sojourner House, a facility for mothers recovering from drug addictions.
On Saturday night, after everything was finished, we went out on the town, and met up with my friend Patrick Jarrett, who I’ve known for several years online. He gave some of us a tour of the town, and we also rode the Incline and rode “The T”, which is Pittsburgh’s light-rail system (their equivalent to Metro).
Categories: LPCM, Pittsburgh
Two grown people going wacko about one of our feathered friends…
2 minute read
October 16, 2003, 12:51 PM
Sometimes it’s interesting what happens when the unexpected happens and you have to deal with it. Somehow, a bird got into Canterbury. Don’t ask me how. I don’t know. All I know is that when I came to Canterbury today to visit Kathleen to talk Pittsburgh (which we’re going to today), I heard a flapping sound, looked in the direction of the sound, and there was a bird on the first floor of Canterbury, inside.
So I go upstairs, tell Kathleen that (A) I double-parked her, and (B) that there is a bird in the house (to which she said, “Yeew”). So we’re talking about stuff and working on stuff, and we hear a sound in the main upstairs room. First instinct is that it’s someone, but it turns out to be the bird. So we close the door so it doesn’t get in the room where we are.
When it’s time to leave, the bird is right upstairs in the next room, trying to get out, but not realizing that the window is closed. Poor bird. Meanwhile, Kathleen and I are no help, flipping out at every little move the bird makes, and ready to jump if it comes any closer to us, and we can’t just open the windows it’s running into, since neither one of us wants to go near it.
Categories: LPCM
“And if you can hear the wind, you should be able to feel it! Wa-haa!”
< 1 minute read
October 15, 2003, 8:32 AM
What a windy day out today! It hasn’t been this windy since Hurricane Isabel. However, it’s not nearly that windy. According to Weatherbug, winds are about 20-30 MPH, with gusts up to 50 MPH. Nothing to sneeze at nonetheless. You can definitely hear it outside. Who knows… maybe I’ll lose my other screen now. I lost the first one during Hurricane Isabel, and it’s now in the garage awaiting reinstallation.
Otherwise, tomorrow I’m going to Pittsburgh! I’m going with LPCM, and we’re going to be cleaning rugs at Sojourner House, which is basically a halfway house for mothers who are recovering from drug addictions.
And lastly, I’ve hung an image that my father grew up with on my door. Basically, I hung up a picture of the Palace Amusements character “Tillie” (named for George Tilyou), which graces one side of Palace Amusements in Asbury Park, New Jersey. I’ve actually been to Asbury Park, but was too young to remember seeing Tillie in person. But the reason I hung Tillie up in here is because I’ve been studying vintage roadside architecture lately, and Palace Amusements ranks high up there, but has suffered tremendous decay since they closed in the late 1980s. There’s now a group trying to save the place and have it restored. Plus I think it would be a pleasant surprise for Dad to see Tillie again.
(Although if I had a better ink cartridge, maybe Tillie would look more normal instead of having purple hair due to my lack of yellow ink)
Categories: Asbury Park, LPCM, Weather
McBain is the governor?
< 1 minute read
October 14, 2003, 12:52 AM
I still can’t believe that the people of California elected Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor, but you know what? I don’t live there, and if they want Arnold Schwarzenegger as their governor, then they can have him.
It’s just amusing what I realized recently. They’ve essentially made Rainier Wolfcastle, known in movies as McBain, the governor of California. Since as we all know, McBain is a parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger on The Simpsons. Now I just wonder how that will play out on The Simpsons. Will McBain all of a sudden become governor? Heck, we saw Mr. Burns run for governor (and lose after he wouldn’t eat a three-eyed fish). I think it would be interesting to see McBain in the governor’s chair.
Categories: State and local politics
Some people are just little you-know-whats…
< 1 minute read
October 12, 2003, 7:56 PM
This was in Lee Hall while I was at Tech picking up my sister and her roommate on Friday. My sister and I and Megan (roommate) are waiting for the elevator, and we see this male resident named Patrick that Sis knew from an anime club.
Well, I take the opportunity to plug Schumin Web, since I happen to have my Schumin Web sweatshirt on. My sister, meanwhile, is doing her usual thing – discouraging people from taking a look at it because she thinks it’s shameless self-promotion. Usually people filter that out. Well, Patrick, being the orifice that he turned out to be, said to me, “Well, she’s sexier than you, so I’m going to listen to her.” Don’t you just want to deck him for being so rude as to say that right in front of me?
It also doesn’t help his case when my sister said he had a handshake like a dead fish. I’d much rather have a crusher handshake than a limp one (but break my hand and I’ll hurt you with my remaining hand).
I was just a little taken back, though, about how rude this person could be and have no second thoughts about it. What was he, raised by wolves or something?
Categories: Some people