Month: October 2006

iPod for sale

iPod and cases

I am selling all that you see here:

  • 4th Generation 40GB Apple iPod
  • Leather flipcase with belt clip
  • iSkin Wild Side: Verve
  • iSkin: Clear
  • Contour Showcase (Yes, it’s ugly, but so is a bulletproof vest.)

(USB cable for file transfer and charging also included)

Features: Pretty much everyone knows what an iPod does. It plays MP3’s. It plays stuff off of the iTunes music store. It is 40 gigabytes (according to apple, that’s 10,000 songs) of musical goodness. The cases all keep it safe and pretty (…except the Showcase, that just keeps it safe).

Condition: I have been super-paranoid about the iPod… I don’t shake it around, the thing’s a hard drive, after all 😛
There are minor scratches on the iPod, so the back doesn’t look like a mirror any more… Still looks great in and out of a case. Battery life is great, and will definitely last for a while. When it does die (all rechargeable batteries need to be replaced after a few years) it will be very cheap to replace- ~$30 for a new battery.

Age: This iPod is just about a year old (I got it after exchanging a defective one).

Warranty: None from Apple (like I said, this was from an exchange from a 2-year-old iPod). HOWEVER, I don’t want you to be afraid to buy this because of no warranty, so I’ll make a 2-week return policy. Try it out. Don’t want it for any reason? Give it back, no questions asked. (Oh, and I’ll refund your money if you want that, too. But I’ll just take the iPod back if you don’t want the refund 😉 )

Why am I selling it? The only reason is that I filled it. Which is hard to do- unless you’re insane like me and need to have 41 live Grateful Dead shows on there. I now own an 80GB iPod, which should take longer to fill. I figure I’ll spread the love.

Who will I sell it to? If I know you, and you aren’t going to load it up with 8 Britney Spears albums, it’s yours.

Price:

You Decide.

Leave me a comment with an offer. Sale ends when I decide so. Highest offer doesn’t necessarily win, and doesn’t have to be restricted to money- that might make it more fun.

Vague is in vogue.

Midterms week progresses. Soon it will be over.

This post is dedicated to a vague friend who writes vague blog posts, one of which makes me very happy for vague reasons 🙂

Midterms

“Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.”
– Leonardo da Vinci

Macroeconomics test tomorrow. That test is 20-25% of my final grade 😛

On top of tests, work is busy this week. Things there are going well, but I have a lot on my plate overall. I’m also starting a huge group project for Business Communication. Grr.

Looking at next semester’s classes… That will be a bit rough, too, it seems.

Immortal Technique is awesome.

Crap.

snow.gif

Update: Yep, the weather totally sucks today. When I posted that image, I didn’t even bother to look at what today’s forecast would be. A high of 38 is no good for someone who spent the last 4 years in Arizona. This was the first crappy, rainy day that I’ve had to endure in that long, too. Biking with 19 degree wind chills is no fun. Everything is wet, the leaves are all still on the ground (I have noticed that Arizona has plenty of leafblowers but no leaves) and it’s generally gross- but just above the temperature needed for it to turn to snow.

I prefer the heat to the cold. But this year I will have endured the hell of 118-degree Arizona summer, and also a long Colorado winter. Blar. It will probably start to get nice and pretty again around a month before school gets out for the year… 😛

“Major” indecision

(…sorry for the pun.)

Right now I’m not sure what I want to do with my major(s) at CSU. I came here knowing my three big interests: Music, Computers, and Spanish. I’m pursuing all three in some way or another, and possibly will be getting degrees in two of them (I don’t want to be a music major).

Right now I’m a Business Administration major with a concentration in Computer Information Systems. I will graduate with a diploma that has no mention of computers. The program consists of 34 credits of general business courses, including many that I don’t care one bit about: Business Law, Managerial Accounting, and Supply Chain Management, to name a few. The business college is a completely different world when compared to the rest of campus: everyone acts as if they’re in a simulation, preparing for the “real world”. It’s not uncommon to see people wearing suits or at least dressing in business casual to go to class. I kind of like it- I’ve been making up my own home businesses since about second grade or so- but at the same time, it just seems so fake. I don’t want to be some guy in a suit who masks communication with his customers in formal reports and letters.
The CIS concentration is 27 credits. That means 34 credits of classes that I essentially don’t care about, and 27 of classes that I’m strongly interested in. I don’t like having more classes that I don’t like.

I wrestled with myself a while back over whether or not I should just be a straight-up Computer Science major. It’s 60 credits of programming. It’s also lots of theory and math and things that I’m generally not good at. But it’s also probably better preparation for what I’m interested in; most of the interesting jobs and internships I’ve looked at want CS majors. Unfortunately, CS prepares you for a job that can easily be done in India, and it’s really showing these days. Essentially, CS teaches you how to sit in a box all day and program. That’s the appeal of the business major- I learn the programming, and I learn skills that make me hard to replace- skills that can’t be outsourced.

Enter the Applied Computing Technology major.  It’s about 35 credits of Computer Science, plus 12 credits of business and 12 credits of classes in any computing department on campus (CS, CIS, Electrical Computer Engineering, more…) It looks appealing. But one of my bosses at work is a CS major, and he says that employers don’t like the ACT major. Meh. I like it.

If I do switch my major to ACT, it won’t be until next year. Part of that is because the business college is really hard to get into, so I should stay until I’m sure that I want to bail. Another part is that I haven’t gotten into any of the programming in the CIS major yet (BD210 is still quizzing me on easy hardware stuff… I have one tomorrow on CDs and DVDs. Ugh.) so I don’t know if 27 is not enough, or if it’s too oriented on business applications.
But probably the biggest reason is that business majors get free copies of Windows and Office, and I don’t want to give that up until after Windows Vista comes out 😀

Homecoming

I didn’t think I’d get to go to the game today against UNLV, because all 10,000 seats sold out. I managed to score a ticket, though, and went with a bunch of cool people from my floor.
We kicked their butts, 28-7. It was definitely a good game, and our season is off to a great 4-1 start. Our biggest rivals, the CU Buffs, are 0-6.

This was the first game that I went to for my own team that I wasn’t drumming for. I miss doing drumline. I’ve always held that it is a waste of time, and once you get to a certain point, you aren’t really feeding your skills musically by doing it. I still hold to that opinion, but it’s just so much fun! It’s a huge commitment, but the fun is worth it- and I’ve forgotten that. Unless I’m in a very different position in a year or so, I will definitely be trying out for the line. They even have the same “snare curse” that MHS had: just 3 snares. With a band so huge in size, you can’t hear them at all. (You can hear the five tenor players, the low basses, and that’s it.)

In other news, Chad and I rearranged our room. Pics will come soon. I basically had a desk that was secluded in the corner, so nobody would know that I was home, and nobody would say “hi”. Now I’m within view of the door, so that’s not a problem.

Another college bachelor’s discovery: Target brand “Mountain” trail mix is way better than Wal-Mart brand mountain trail mix. Just for the record.

A Day in Song

Wake Up: I’m Ready – Jack’s Mannequin

I wake up to find it’s another
Four aspirin morning, and I dive in
I put on the same clothes I wore yesterday.
When did society decide that we had to change
And wash a tee shirt after every individual use:
If it’s not dirty, I’m gonna wear it.
I take the stairs to the car
And there’s fog on the windows.
I need caffeine in my blood stream,
I take caffeine in the blood stream.
I grip the wheel and all at once I realize:
My life has become a boring pop song
And everyone’s singing along.

Yep, I’m emo in the morning. Eh. Once I “take caffeine in the bloodstream,” I enter SuperHappyOptimist mode. And I don’t fall asleep in my third class of the morning.

Bike to The Bean Cycle in Old Town: Penny Lane – The Beatles

In Penny Lane there is a barber showing photographs
Of every head he’s had the pleasure to know
And all the people that come and go
Stop and say hello

Fort Collins is the ultimate representation of the “blue, suburban skies” of Penny Lane. Old Town is such a quaint city center, with almost completely locally-owned shops. Sure, it’s only a couple of blocks long, so it’s no Mill Avenue, but Fort Collins has been blessed by being out of the way. The neighborhoods here are a little older, and really beautiful. I’d love to raise a family here. Obviously I’m not the only person to think this, since Fort Collins is Money Magazine’s #1 Place to Live in 2006.

Class: College Kids – Relient K

I’m poor, I’m starving, I’m flat broke, I’ve got no cash to spend
Sell all my books for front row tickets to Dave Matthews Band
My girlfriends at another school i know this year will test her
I called, found out she had 3 other boyfriends last semester
And that’s why I say
Oh no, not for me, not for me
Call it torture, call it university
No, arts and crafts is all I need
I’ll take caligraphy and then I’ll make a fake degree

Like I said before, College for the sake of college is worthless. Yet very fun.

Work: U Can’t Touch This – MC Hammer

U can’t touch this
U can’t touch this
Break it down
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh oh-oh
Stop. Hammer time!

Getting used to work on the Security Team can be summarized with four words: U Can’t Touch This. Everything we do is on live, critical systems that have hundreds of users logged on at any given time. You have to be really, really sure that you’re doing the right thing before you do it. We’ve had two major system failures in the last two weeks, and we have to scramble to fix it- keep in mind that there are only four people on this team. They all have more stress than I do, too, because I don’t know how to do everything yet. It’s also interesting working in an office-type team environment- that is, I almost never work with the other people on my team. I know my responsibilities, and take care of them, but I’m insecure not having a handle on everything, since I’m a control freak. I hate working in groups at school, and adjusting to working in this environment has been a challenge (the good kind- it’s not uncomfortable at all, I’m just learning how to do it).

Getting Home: Procrastination – Wendy Woo

I have been procrastinating
Well, I have been waiting my whole life through for you
I always say I’ll wait another day to do those things I meant to do
And I have been been procrastinating
And I have been waiting my whole life through
Just to do all those things that I wish I had done the day before

I really know how to waste a few hours. I deserve it, I have five classes a day.

Actually getting work done: Elmer’s Revenge – Steve Kimock Band

RidecrazinessSIXTEENTHSEPTUPLETS
paradiddlebetweenbassandsnareostinatos
PolyrhythmicRoundhouses
OPENROLLBETWEENHANDANDFOOT
RareButPerfectlyPlacedDoubleBassAttack…

I don’t know how the heck that’s supposed to help me study, but it does.

Chillin’ at night: Damn It Feels Good to Be a Gangsta – Geto Boys

Damn it feels good to be a gangsta
Feedin’ the poor and hepin out wit they bills
Although I was born in Jamaica
Now I’m in the US makin’ deals
Damn it feels good to be a gangsta
I mean one that you don’t really know
Ridin’ around town in a drop-top Benz
Hittin’ switches in my black six-fo’
Now gangsta-ass n****s come in all shapes and colors
Some got killed in the past
But this gangtsa here is a smart one
Started living for the lord and I’ll last

That song is way too laid-back. If you haven’t heard it, you wouldn’t know- it just looks like another crappy hip-hop song.

Why I suck at Spanish. (kinda)

So I’ve pretty much decided that my current Spanish class (LCC300S, Reading & Writing for Communication) is basically an easier version of last year’s Spanish 9-10 class with Loca Zinke. That’s good – I always forget the tiny little rules with grammar, so I need them to be constantly smashed into my lazy, stubborn brain. I still love taking Spanish, but one of my weaknesses is that I really couldn’t give a crap about all of the exceptions to the rules when it comes to grammar. I also can’t manage the subjunctive or reflexive forms.

This became really clear to me today… I got 2 tests back. One was an essay, the other was a grammar test. The essay was 95%, and had “Truly well done- you write well” in the comments.
The other was a grammar test. 76%. Not horrible, but I expect more out of myself. Blah.

Why can’t I get the darned grammatical rules down? I think that I really, really need to study abroad and immerse myself in the language for a few months. I’m working on it; I’ll probably go to Spain and/or Latin America next year sometime. CSU has one of the best study abroad programs around (CSU’s motto is “Knowledge to Go Places”) and they have partnerships with a lot of schools in Spain- including several Business schools. Since a lot of my business core curriculum is really boring in the first place, I might be able to kill two birds with one stone and just take ’em in Spain.
And maybe if I go somewhere for a while, I’ll just have to learn the proper grammatical skills.