Monthly Archives: May 2006

  • Chancellor’s List Letter Annoyances

    2006 Chancellor's List Letter2006 Chancellor’s List Letter
    (Click to enlarge)
    I know I mentioned I got a 4.0 this semester and I was on the Chancellor’s List again, but I actually got the letter from LSU-S today. Vincent Marsala, the Chancellor, was even kind enough to not actually sign them. That’s was pretty lame. How hard could it be for him to sign the 4.0 student’s letters?

    I guess they thought they’d fool me with a cursive font. That change of font on that part of the page really makes me feel special. If you’re not even going to use an Autopen, why even bother. At least that way I’d feel like you spent some money on me indirectly since you can’t spare any of your time.


  • Amazon Wishlist Plugin

    I’ve added my Amazon Wishlist to my blog. It lets people see what I want and link to it to buy it from the Amazon site. This was made possible because of a great plugin that Ryan Prins made. After downloading it, I noticed a few issues that made the XHTML not validate and a small functionality issue.

    I fixed them on my side and created a simple patch to fix the issues. After I sent it to Ryan via an email, he quickly updated it and thanked me on his site. I recommend you check out his plugin if you use WordPress and the Amazon wishlist functionaity.


  • I’m Not Quite Dead Yet

    Yeah, so beside that last blog post about Wal-Mart that I just published, I had not blogged since February 8, 2006. That’s quite a long time to go without explicating my thoughts or the reasons for not sharing them. Let me now tell you why I had not been sharing anything lately in an unordered list:

    • School

    So yeah, that’s basically it. I was taking 18 hours of school while working 40 hours per week. Add on the time necessary to complete all the co-requisite homework, papers, and preparation, and that leaves little time for me to have any leisure besides the occasional television program (American Idol and LOST).

    Spring 2006 GradesMy Grades
    I’m happy to report the following for my grades this semester:

    • University 200: Credit (This was a pass/fail course)
    • Computer Science 230: A
    • ISDS 350: A
    • Chemistry 124: A
    • English 325: A
    • Marketing 301: A
    • Average: A (4.00)

    I should be on the Chancellor’s list again, so I’m happy. Also, I was awarded a scholarship from Bowman Systems through the LSU-S College of Sciences. It’s only $500 per semester for two semesters (and I can apply again), but that will help a lot since it’s all coming out of my pocket.

    I’m now out of school on Summer break for a couple of weeks until my Summer classes start. The load should be much lighter and I should be able to blog more often, assuming I have things to blog about.

    [Note: By exploiting the Law of Time Spent With Josh, I was able to only meet with Josh on two occasions during this semester. The Law of Time Spent With Josh states that the amount of time spent with Josh Hale is inversely proporational to the percentage grade I receive in my classes. That is to say that if I spend a lot of time with Josh, I fail. A moderate amount of time: C, and almost no time at all: A. Thus, by using past observations and inductive reasoning, I can deduce that this is surely causation and not just correlation.]


  • Breaking Things in Wal-Mart

    Tonight, Chris Leon and I went to Whataburger to grab something to eat before we went back to my house and watched the DVD of The God Who Wasn’t There. We were talking in the car and Chris forgot about the Whatabuger by my house, so we ended up at the one in southeast Shreveport. The meal was uneventful except for my consumption of all of the ketchup in a 1 mile radius.

    [Note: All of what follows will more than likely not amuse you. It was hilarious, but you probably “had to be there”. I warned you.]

    Frog Gutter Run-Off DecorationFrog Gutter Run-Off DecorationAfterwards, we went to the Wal-Mart across the street to seek out gifts for Mother’s Day, since neither of us had purchased gifts yet. We first went to the “electronics” section because we’re both nerds. I use the term “electronics” lightly, because well, it’s Wal-Mart. Also, with their new arrangement, if you go one too many isles over, you’re in the shoe department with no point of demarcation.

    After deciding that the “electronics” department sucked with their non-usb reading digital picture printing kiosks, we headed over to the gardening department to look at silly yard decorations that might appease the maternal sensibilities of a good present. I first came upon a frog decoration that appeard to serve the purpose of adorning the water exit of a gutter system. It had a little frog boat sitting in a little frog river that would look like frogs whitewater rafting through a rainwater river during a storm. I thought my mom might like that, but I wasn’t willing to pay outrageous sums of money for it. I lifted it up by the handle (what appeared to be a handle that would actually serve to anchor the top part of the gutter water exit) and turned it over to see if there was a price tag. Immediately, the frog boat detatched, fell to the ground, and shattered.

    I’m fairly certain the frog boat was already broken off and someone set it back in the decoration, but it still came as quite a shock, because I’ve never broken anything in a store that I can remember, and definitely not quite as dramatically. Amazingly, the other guy on the isle didn’t even appear to be phased in the slightest. Chris suggested we leave, but now my primary choice had been removed from the running and I wasn’t about to leave without something to show for it.

    Chris then pointed out a 4-foot tall lighthouse and suggested that I knock it over too. He pointed out angel decorations that I might want to pick up and throw against a wall to shatter those too. I’m actually laughing out loud while I’m typing this, but I realize the humor inherent in this won’t amuse anyone but Chris and me.

    After I was able to stop crying from laughing so hard and literally having to crouch from not being able to breathe from laughing so hard, Chris noticed a bird cage directly above us with a dead bird in it. Apparently, Wal-Mart doesn’t like the birds that fly into their store a lot. They capture them in birdcage traps and leave them there to die instead of releasing them outside. I postured a hypothesis. I’m guessing they don’t want the birds to swoop down and make a “CAWW” sound while they steal your birdseed or fish or something that you’re trying to buy. Alternatively, they might try to perch on your shoulder or bite out your eyeball like in The Passion of the Christ.

    Either way, Wal-Mart really hates those birds, enough to trap them and let them die in the store, above its customers. I have to wonder, what about the bird crap? There seemed to be no mechanism for dealing with this eventuality. I guess Wal-Mart would rather its customers be defecated upon in a limited area than the possiblity of being hit by falling feces throughout the store.

    Chris and I rewarded their animal cruelty by purchasing windchimes. I also purchased a miniature garden gnome. I hope my mom doesn’t read this before I give it to her, because that will ruin the surprise. It’s slightly less likely that Chris’ mom will read my blog, so I’m not too worried about that. The hilarity about windchimes is that they aren’t in a box. They’re just hanging, with a pricetag on them, so Chris and I had to walk from one end of the store to another (Garden to Food/20 Items or Less) carrying clanging windchimes. Needless to say, everyone was looking at us and I was laughing my ass off. It’s probably not too often that people see two guys walking across Wal-Mart carrying windchimes as their only item with no buggy. I was too busy laughing and I forgot to get a card. I’ll get that tomorrow before I see my mom (or I guess I should say today since it’s past 3 AM).

    We came back to my house, watched The God Who Wasn’t There, and then watched the two part series that Richard Dawkins made named The Root of All Evil (Episode 1: The God Delusion | Episode 2: The Virus of Faith). I’ve now seen TGWWT about 5 times, and it’s still as good as the first time, but this was only my second time seeing The Root of All Evil. It’s an excellent documentary series, and Richard Dawkins is a great speaker, writer, and scientist.

    All in all, I’d say I’m pretty glad Chris screwed up and went to that Whataburger on the other side of town. I haven’t laughed as hard as I had tonight in quite some time.