http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/ en-us Copyright 2009 Sat, 17 Oct 2009 12:03:19 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss I first want to say a big Happy Birthday to my girlfriend, She turned 18 yesterday and got to have her own party and everything like she wanted :). I got to play apples to apples while I was there, and that was great fun!!! The second part of my good news is that my parents went on vacation/on a fishing trip last weekend up in michigan and scored a buttload of salmon!!! So now we can eat like kings, off the fillets of salmon, for the month or even longer if we wish :). The third and final piece of good news is that the haunted forest starts next weekend and I am stoked to scare some kids!!! Now the bad news, my haunt is not set up yet and I don't think I will have it done by tomorrow so I hope dad can get it set up in time!!! This is the first year I'll be doing the haunted forest as an adult and I'm bringing my friend Spenser to help me scare them good!!! So this week I'm off then I go clothes shopping for something weird and out of place, wish me luck!!! I have to head outside and get to work, I will update you again sometime soon, peace! "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit." -Aristotle http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/10/micromanagement.html http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/10/micromanagement.html Sat, 17 Oct 2009 12:03:19 -0500 WHAT??? Well I have and I'm really starting to hate the feeling. A little piece of advice for anyone that reads this, make sure when you are going to classes you read the assignment that you are supposed to, get friends to help you study, and don't procrastinate, you'll only dig yourself a hole if you do. And for all of you struggling to learn something, I feel your pain, your best bet is to ask for help!!!!! "The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible." -Arthur C. Clarke]]> http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/10/the_start_of_a_great_month.html http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/10/the_start_of_a_great_month.html Sat, 03 Oct 2009 10:56:47 -0500 So I had a long weekend, during which I did not do my physics take home test or my calculus 2 homework, both of which are due Tuesday, so I will be doing it fast tomorrow. I don't know why I'm in this funk, but I don't like it, I'm starting to get panicky about my grades, calculus is getting harder by the day and I still keep waiting until the day before to do the homework. I think I'm going to go back to the homework that was assigned since the beginning of school and do it again, by myself this time though, I hope that I can catch up before its too late!!! Well now since the bad parts of the weekend are out, the good parts can come out too. I bought a garden torch for my parents this weekend and got to use it. The garden torch is a flaming tube that is hooked up to a propane tank and all you have to do to use it is hold it over the plant you wish to get rid of for a couple seconds and ka-blamo weed goes away. So with said garden torch I went around the house and burned all the weeds, which made me feel awesome lol (I'm sort of a pyro). I also got to hang out with my girlfriend and my see my Great Aunt and Grandma from around Akron Ohio, which was awesome!!!! Well I'm going to hit the hay, I'm super tired for some reason. “To have begun is to be half done; dare to be wise; begin!” -Horace http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/09/pure_fun.html http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/09/pure_fun.html Sun, 27 Sep 2009 21:15:23 -0500 I don't understand why I always feel tired, I get through 2 REM cycles ( REM = rapid eye movement, which are for 3 hours a piece) and I still am ready to fall right back to sleep. I'd also like to note that I have lost ambition to do just about anything. I would rather play xbox 360, from when I get home to when I go to bed. This is rather inconvienent for things like my homework, grades, and hanging out with friends. In other complaints, my cat has moved back to only eating soft food, which is killer on my whole monthly budget... thank god for aldi's, cheap food!!! Now the good side of life, Saturday my girlfriend and I went to the movies and watched Gamer (btw, it sucks!!! I won't watch it again). We also went to Pizza Forum, which is right up the road from IPFW, and got some awesome pizza. I've been there a half dozen times and I have to say it rocks, not one bad meal! Pizza Forum also has a discount for IPFW students, which is 10 % off your whole meal, or a 12" peperoni pizza for CHEAP!!! Like I said, amazing place. Other other news, I'm starving!!! I'll let y'all go now. "Mistakes are the portals of discovery." - James Joyce, 1882-1941 http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/09/so_ready_for_a_nap.html http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/09/so_ready_for_a_nap.html Sun, 20 Sep 2009 12:52:31 -0500 So it has been a long week and I'm glad it is finally over! I am of course ready for a knap like the title states. I also hate crickets!!! There is two of them under my house and they cricket everyday, every second, and yada yada yada, I'm ready to get a lighter out and burn them, or drown them. Then I'll have to seal the house up with silicone to ensure they can't get under there again and from the sounds of it I might have to spray pesticide down there too. So I want to inform everyone that at the end of October the Boy Scouts of Edon, Ohio are going to be hosting a haunted forest at the Walts Park Forest. I don't have an exact date, but when I do get the info I plan to give it out to everyone I can. I know it'll be good because I'm going to work it, as I have every year thus far. The trail is going to be upgraded compared to every year, so we will have actual bridges for people to walk over instead of mulched over stackes of logs. Other news: I have homework to do so I will chat everyone up later, peace! "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/09/im_ready_for_a_knap.html http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/09/im_ready_for_a_knap.html Sun, 13 Sep 2009 19:26:52 -0500 It has been an interesting week thus far. I have had little time to myself to think, let alone get a blog in, until now. I have recently started an on-campus work-study job, where I sit at the front desk of the Dean of the Engineering Technology and Computer Science (ETCS)'s office, and at the desk, when one first walks into the ETCS success office. I mostly work on homework, answer the phone, and help anyone who comes in with a question, so it's a cool job. What else is new... Um, well I got sick from my girlfriend and I now have to do my best not to breathe on anyone, I cough into my shirt, and I keep sanatizing/washing my hands in the best effort not to get anyone else sick. Verizon shut my internet off, it's very sad. Unfortunately my parents missed the invoice so the bill hasn't been paid and thus I have no internet. Math is somewhere between difficult and understandable, although I need to put a lot more effort into it if I plan on having a nice grade when I pass. Physic is difficult to explain, the prof is the type of guy that won't tell you the answer, instead he expects you to learn it from the material and will answer your question with another question. In class we don't have lectures, we have class discussion where we answer problems out of our learning manuals and he expects everyone to participate. This is a lot different form the classes where I could give an unclear definition and the teacher clears it up for me. The thing is even though I can complain about all this I know this class will be a good thing for me, because I won't have only the "make up an answer" mentality, I'll also have the "think it out" method to use at my future job. I think I'm a rambler- which is a trait I inherited from my father because he can talk and talk lol. Well I think I'm going to get off of here and probably go home, these long days on campus are crazy, or at least for this week :) Take care all "He who has imagination without learning, has wings and no feet." - Joseph Joubert http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/09/somewhere_between_mathiscrazy.html http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/09/somewhere_between_mathiscrazy.html Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:09:03 -0500 So it is my first week back and I have noticed a huge change in me, I have noticed that I am extremely more social this year than I was even back in high school. I also have more confidence in myself to get things done and I don't notice if people are staring at me, like the "shy" state I used to be in. Last year I had a hard time doing tours because I could never make small talk with the prospective student, and that was the biggest part of the job. Now I could make small talk with about anyone I wanted. And through the STARs program in the admissions I have made a handfull of new friends. I would advice you to try and get a job as a STudent Admissions Representative (if there is one available for you), and share all of your stories. In other news I have been able to use the knowledge I gained from high school physic,in my college physic class, which means I have a fighting chance to get close to an A in it and this makes me very happy. I also feel really bad for my girlfriend, who has a ton on her plate for this semester, and she is struggling to find the time, I hope she can do it and still have a good senior year (she's a high school senior in the grand ol' bomber country :) ). Exciting side note: I'm borrowing "gears of war 2" (xbox 360 game) from a friend and i love playing horde on multiplayer! If you are on xbox live and you want a person to play with, drop me an invite, my gamer tag is: NightlyDragon7. p.s. I also play Call of Duty: World at War, Mercenaries 2, Fuel of War, and Call of Duty 4; I have more games, so just invite me and I'll tell you if I have it. "The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible." - Arthur C. Clarke http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/08/horseshoes_and_hand_grenades.html http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/08/horseshoes_and_hand_grenades.html Thu, 27 Aug 2009 21:58:13 -0500 This week is the first week back, which means... FREE FOOD!!!!!! oh and classes but mostly FREE FOOD!!! :). So my classes have started, along with everyone else's, and this semester I am taking calculus 2, Physics 152 (mechanics), Engr 199 (engineering design), and Engr 221 (C and C++ Programing). My goal for this semester, which will be HARD, is to get an A in every class, but I need a B or higher in Physics and Calculus to keep my scholarship, which shouldn't be hard for the B, but I want the A... In other news, Today on campus we have the velcro wall (I believe) and for sure Nelson's grilled food like hambergers and hotdogs (YUM YUM!) for the masses to eat! I also met up with a girl that used to go to the same high school as me, which is cool because I'm no longer the only edonight (sounds like E-don-knight) in Fort Wayne! well I need to run, I believe my project partner is here, so it's time for a paper airplane simulator :) don't you just love nerds...? "Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude." -Thomas Jefferson http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/08/ahh_the_wonders_of_prom.html http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/08/ahh_the_wonders_of_prom.html Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:23:02 -0500 It has been a long couple of days for me here in the little lossed town of Edon, so far I have moved all the stuff from the basement to the living room upstairs, cleaned the walls and floor in the basement, poured a cement pad in the basement, painted the basement walls with a sealant, moved boxes of stuff back into the basement, and I've also started filling cracks in the walls with hydrolic cement. All this is in an effort to stop the water from coming through the walls downstairs so that it isn't a sest pool of molds and bacteria. I also got a lesson in organizing my house from my mom and got a good deal of it picked up. Now on my list of to do: I need to make a popcorn holder, make a stand to expand the rain catcher, plumb the rain barrels onto it, paint the basement floor, and I'm sure my 'rents will find something else for me to do. And I can't wait until school starts, I'm so BORED!!!! And I just want to get this semester over. Well I'm off to watch Bones and I'm sure I'll have to do something else that a 'rent will ask for. Good night all. "Always do right- this will gratify some and astonish the rest." - Mark Twain (1835-1910) http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/08/a_long_couple_days.html http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/08/a_long_couple_days.html Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:27:48 -0500 So the basement work that I was procrastinating on earlier is mostly done, I had to gutt it out so we could see the water damage and everything else that is wrong down there. Our next task is to spray the walls with a chemical "killer" to kill all the mold and then wash the walls down with water and clean up the mess. Then we have a plan of starting a root cellar to store the potatoes and onions we just got out of our garden. Then eventually we would like to make a gray water watering system, which is where we would take the water from our bath and put it into storage. The water is from that point pumped outside to the garden where it is use for watering. This would save us money because we wouldn't have to pay for the water we use when we garden. I hope to complete this job within the week before I have to go back to school. Well I'm taking off for my nice warm bed, take care all. "In any contest between power and patience, bet on patience." - W.B. Prescott http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/08/i_hate_the_basement.html http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/08/i_hate_the_basement.html Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:42:21 -0500 Well I know last time I promised I would have pictures of my alarm clock, well I tried to upload them and there was an error message that said the file was too big... so I cannot show the picture of the alarm. In other news I went to the dentist today and that went rather well, I need to get my wisdom teeth pulled, but I knew that from my last trip there. So today's plan is to clean the basement out and I don't really want to do it right now, so we will see what happens. maybe I can get my mom to wait a day. Yesterday was my last day at work and afterwards I left the Fort for my parents house. Now I am here buying the most time I can from entering the basement. I'm going to go and hide :) "Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake." - Chessmaster Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower (1887-1956) http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/08/the_error_i_wish_i_hadnt_read.html http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/08/the_error_i_wish_i_hadnt_read.html Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:10:02 -0500 I have decided that I am going to give my alarm clock one more day of life before I destroy it in the same manner a caveman would destroy anything. I'm sure many are wondering what I'm talking about, so I'll tell you. This morning I woke up an hour late because my alarm did not go off, which means I was late to work. At work I swore I would buy a new alarm clock, destroy my old one, and then I would post the picture of the obliterated alarm clock on here. I have yet to destroy it but that will happen tomorrow and you will see the evidence. In other news I have a total of two days of work in the admissions office before I'm done and I'm sure the ladies in the back will miss me. I also have managed to beat Mercenaries 2, so I think I'm going to sell it or trade it with a friend for a new game. Now for my big thought I have decided I'm going to try an experiment that will look like a "business". I think that I'm going to advertise books that are for sale around campus and also through amazon, ebay, and maybe textbook.com, to anyone who wants to use my services. I would take pictures, post the papers, and anything else that might come up. The only thing I would ask for would be some sort of money, either through a percentage of the sale or some upfront amount that would have to be worked out when I started the adventure. I believe that if I do this I will get people who would normally sell their books back to the bookstore for a small price to sell them to other people for more money. Well I will have to update this later, until then take it easy and have fun getting ready for classes to begin again. " Who is a hero? He who turns his enemies into friends." A teaching from the Talmud http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/08/delay_that_threat.html http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/08/delay_that_threat.html Tue, 11 Aug 2009 22:24:47 -0500 I am pretty sure I am glad the summer is over and I know I am happy that my summer classes are over. Just a quick side note, summer classes are extremely excellerated and are way harder than regular term classes, because the regular 16 week classes become condenced down to 6 week classes so if you miss one class it can be almost like missing a week worth of regular classes. In lamens terms that means you miss about a chapter of notes each day u miss. So now I'm done with the boring school talk I will move onto my summer. I have had an interesting summer to say the least... I will just say that I can be considered an expert at filing and alphabetizing. I also got lucky and one of the ladies in the office offered me an opportunity to do yard work around her house and she pays me, which are the magic words lol. This summer i also got the opportunity to go on a "vacation," which was a weekend spent at Warren Dunes state park in Michigan. The trip there was roughly two hours, most of which we spent on the toll road. When we got there we decided to camp at the state park because the place we were originally going to go was full. We spent most of our time at the beach (Lake Michigan) and in the mud creek that ran in between the dunes. That was interesting, people would go up the creek and then come back covered in clay. So half of the people on the beach were covered in gray, dried clay and there were even bald guys that had it on their head. They then of course washed it off but it was different to me for sure. On Saturday and Sunday there were big waves coming into shore, so we spent our time diving through waves and jumping over them too, it was pretty cool. The only major downside of the trip was on the last day a guy drowned from the constant battereing of waves and being pulled around by rip tides. The only the other thing I can think of is that someone hacked my xbox 360 live account, so now I have a new one, which is NightlyDragon7, once again if you're interested in gaming just add me and if I have the game I'll play it with ya. Welp I think im going to take off, its about time to go garden with my mom... catch ya'll later "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty" Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/08/my_summer_spendings.html http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/08/my_summer_spendings.html Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:33:42 -0500 This summer was sort of a last minute thing for me, because at the last second, I decided to take summer classes and get a work study job in the admissions department. I am taking Intro to Microeconomics, which is easy (even as a summer class), the first part of the summer and then for summer two I am taking Critical Thinking. Microeconomics is where we study the individual person's economic choices instead of economic choices of firms which is Macroeconomics. I love the class- minus the fact that I'm there for two and a half hours- it just comes to me and I don't really have to work at it much. The downside to the class is that there are people who don't get anything the teacher says and so the class can drag on a little bit. My job is kool! Although to the untrained eye it seems boring... You just have to put yourself in an energetic and mischievious mood. Most of the day I am filing and unfiling files and information for the ladies in the back of the Admissions building/room. I also get to make folders for juniors, seniors, and adults. It is just my time to think to myself and earn a nice little paycheck every two weeks, I would definitely recommend doing federal work study when you start at college. The last time I blogged it was a couple days before prom. I have to say that this prom was better than any other proms I went to and my girlfriend's dress was spectacular! I can't wait until next year's prom because I get to do it all over again. Well I will leave now to venture onto my Xbox 360 and play some Call of Duty: World at War or Call of Duty 4. If you ever want to play hit me up, my gamertag is Andrew GTFOMC "Fill what's empty, empty what's full, and scratch where it itches." - the Duchess of Windsor, when asked what is the secret of a long and happy life (http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/quotes.html) http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/06/my_summer_so_far.html http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/06/my_summer_so_far.html Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:32:08 -0500 I've been having a really bad time with organizing my chaotic life, school work, and work, and for these reasons I'm behind on my blogging. Update: I don't remember if I said this, but a little while back I was trying to get a job here on campus as an RA (Resident Advisor). I did not get the job, but I did get a summer job in the admissions office; my new job would consist of data entry and any other jobs that they need done. I got an A in art appreciation, so I won't have to take the final next week! The professor told us earlier in the semester that if we had a 90 or more by the week before finals we were excused from the final exam and would recieve an A as our final grade. Nifty right? It's dead week here on campus, so we don't have any tests and minimal homework to do; which translates to I'm bored cuz I have little to besides study... I really need to mow my lawn, it is getting out of control, but I don't have a mower... ironic right? This weather is driving me nuts!!! Monday I had to put my AC unit into my window so that I could actually go to sleep not sweating out of every pore on my body, then the next day the weather is suddenly colder and I have to sleep with two comforters to stay warm. Not to mention that every day after Monday it has raining, making my lawn mowing an impossible task. This weekend is the weekend of prom with my girl friend, so I get to go back to my old high school and dance with the few people who show up. To top that I think the principal is going to make us dance with the lights on, because there are always the few that ruin it for all of us, by doing something like making out in a dark corner. I have a solution for him, why not go hang in the dark corner and wait for someone to wander that way, then jump out and catch them. In doing so we can all freely dance with the lights out- minus the DJ's lights. But I guess it could be worse, after all all I really want is to be with her for the weekend. So I guess that is all that is going on in my life right now, I will probably get back on here in a little bit and blog but right now it's LUNCH TIME!!!!!!! Have a good day and let me know if you have any questions, I'm more than willing to answer any!!!! The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese... http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/05/im_slacking.html http://blogs.targetx.com/ipfw/Andrew/2009/05/im_slacking.html Fri, 01 May 2009 05:56:01 -0500