Thursday, August 26, 2010

Y560

I have order my Ideapad!

The specs are pretty amazing. (4GB------> 8GB not that I'll need 8GB).

So I'm excited because everything seems amazing.

And I'm really nervous because the Y560 is notorious for its display problems. Hopefully, when I get the comp and it turns out crappy, I can either

1) Fix it.
2) Get a Full Refund.

=) Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.


Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Life is so Freaking Unfair!

Ok. So, I ordered my Thinkpad like... 5 days ago.

And today I find an Ideapad that's like...
amazing. Ok, the model is different but the hardware is like... SO MUCH BETTER and CHEAPER.

Specifications:

Operating System: Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-720QM Processor, 1.6 GHz (2.8 GHz with Turbo Boost Technology), 6MB L3 Cache

Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730 with 1GB dedicated memory

Memory: Configured with 4GB DDR3 1066MHz

Storage Drive: 500GB (5400 RPM) Serial ATA hard disk drive

Optical Disk Drive: Dual Layer DVD Recordable

Display: 15.6” widescreen LED Backlit WXGA VibrantView (1366x768)

Sound: 2x2w JBL® designed stereo speakers with Dolby® Home Theater™ Certification

Webcam: 1.3MP integrated web camera

Communications: 10/100/100 Ethernet, Intel® WiFi 1000 BGN

Expandability: ExpressCard/34™ slot, 6-in-1 Memory Card Reader (SD/ SD pro/ MS/ MS pro/ MMC / xD)

Ports: 2 USB 2.0, 1 USB 2.0/ESATA combo, 1 IEEE 1394, 1 VGA, 1 HDMI, 1 Microphone input jack, 1 Headphone out jack with SPDIF support

Battery: 6 cell Lithium Ion battery


Do you see that????? i7!!! and on top of that a pretty decent graphics card???? ~!@#$%^&*()_

Zune Zune Zune

For entering Freshman, College = Excitement. Freedom! Drugs! Alcohol! All that good stuff. At first, I wasn't particularly excited. I mean, college is college. And honestly, college is overrated. But, now that I am going to college, I find myself with the perfect excuse to jack up on all sorts of gizmos. So, I am very excited.

Some new treats I'm getting myself:

Lenovo T510: Intel Core i5, 4 GB Memory - and some other features. Not the highest specs, but still a nice computer and pretty damn good for the price and get this - it comes with a fingerprint reader. How sick is that?

Kindle 6.0" w/ Free 3G and Wi-fi: it weighs 8.7 ounces. To give you some perspective, the latest iPod 32g Touch is 4.05 ounces. Pretty freaking light.

Zune HD Video MP3 player: I've been debating about whether to get the Zune or the iPod Touch for the longest time and I've finally decided on the Zune. For one, it's less pricey. Two, HD???? The quality is just... amazing. Three, the Zune looks a lot sleeker to me.
I don't know, iPod fans. Is this just a bout of stupidity?
Am I being brainwashed by Microsoft?

College textbooks = a fortune.

Except not anymore!

At least, not for me.
I've managed to get a hold of multiple PDFs. And I must say, I am very excited. This will save me some $500 this semester which gives me ample funding to stock up on all my gadgets.

For instance, the Kindle + Zune will cost me $346.54. $404.93 if you include the Kindle's Leather Case and the Zune's Feather Case (ultra light and ultra strong polymer).

Now isn't that fantastic?

Now, what I can't understand, is why Apple is so freaking expensive!
Terribly overpriced! A standard laptop is like $1700! The question is, why?
Also, iPad w. Wi-fi and 3G = $629.00.

Really, What's the point of the iPad? I have my computer, my Zune, my Kindle. Ok, so why do I need an iPad? First of all, what exactly is the iPad? Honestly, it's not a computer. Some say it's a blown up iPod Touch. HM. Well, no thank you. Sorry hardcore Apple fans. What can I say? It just doesn't appeal to me.

Enough hating. If I remember correctly, this blog entry was written to commemorate a good day and good purchases.

So anyway, I am uber Excited!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Failure

I'm sorry.

I wasn't going to post until I read the entire Dodd-Frank Act (Actually, that was supposed to take ten days so failure regardless), but honestly, it's sort of difficult to chug through, um... 2000 pages. I got to 300 something. Doesn't that count for anything? I mean, halfassedness should count for something! I did spend some time reading that nonsense! Will I ever finish? I don't know, will Obama ever have a full head of hair? (Wait, does he have one?) I guess my point is, probably not, but hey! Rogaine exists, right? One day, just one day, maybe I'll decide it's worthwhile again to read it (hopefully that awaited time will not involve a major screw up at a firm) and finally, I will write a decent blog entry that is sort of intellectually stimulating. Until then, it's all blah for you people. Or... I could decide to write on something else.

Well, since I've been away for a while, I guess this'll be somewhat of an update.
What have I been doing?

I have been trying to be productive! And actually do stuff. The thing is, I only get motivation when I'm about to fall asleep, so I never really get anything done. Some cool things have happened to me though! Yesterday, for the first time in four years, I dreamed in math! Well, correction, I dreamed of math. I woke up thinking, of course it would only have two saddle points! Don't call that nerdiness because I can name about 100 people that I know who are 10 million times nerdier. The list starts with a certain Aristotle. All jokes aside (I use that phrase a lot. Have you noticed? I have. And if I've noticed, that means it's been overused... way overused... hm...), I've never been much of an academic. Maybe an intellectual, sort of, but never an academia type of person. The reason? I just get bored. or maybe the material just gets hard and I just don't get it, but I like to think I get bored and that's probably more accurate because I will put a book down after .5 seconds. So basically, I open the book and then I put it down. ... for good. Anyway, I've been trying to fix this whimsical nature of mine and so far, I have failed! At least, failed at going the extra mile. I have, however, progressed a few feet! Hey! At least that's some improvement! So instead of putting something down for good (that sort of sounds depressing. It could be substituted with "after I've killed something." HM...), I just sort of cast it aside in a strange hope that I will somehow pick it up again. So far I've "read" aka starting reading:

On the Origins of War and the Preservation of Peace (about 200 pages from this book. smack in the middle of WWI)

Man, the State and War (page 7 of the introduction)

The Prince (pg 75)

Principles of Mathematical Analysis (pg 73)

Infinite Jest (um... somewhere... it really is infinite...)

Differential Equations (lost track)

Economics and World History (smack in the middle of the great depression! so... pg. 10)

The Democratic Peace (Title)

Real and Complex Analysis (Table of Contents)

Chemical Principles (Title)


That's just my short summer reading list. As you can see, I am going somewhere. Hopefully, those titles will encourage me to move forward! Just wait till you see my list of "must-reads" aka "must know exists but who cares really?"

Ahahahaha. Can you imagine me in ten years???? what the HELL will I be doing? (other than being the richest person EVER) Hopefully, I won't be locked up in a mental institution.

Sometimes, I think I'm just a curious soul. Other times, I'm pretty sure I have ADD. or ADHD. It really depends on how many calories I consumed that day.

Sigh. I hate being young.

I have no excuse to NOT do anything (or maybe I have all the excuse?)

But, like a certain famous person said (no clue who and no quotations because it might or might not be verbatim): Everyone wants to live forever. No one wants to grow old.

But honestly, wouldn't it be awesome to be young and live forever? That way, you really do have an excuse not to do anything.

I mean, you can just say, it will happen eventually. Ever heard of the Monkey who can write the entire works of Shakespeare given a type writer and an infinite amount of time? That's right, there's no "I might succeed." There's just "I WILL succeed. I just don't know when."

Ok. Am I lame for reveling in such a thought? I'm sorry. That's what I do. Daydream, Rip my Hair out, Actually dream, sleep, be lazy, and sometimes, just sometimes, I sit down on my ass for ten minutes, open a book, and actually learn something and guess what, I never forget it. Ever. So you tell me. Am I really that much of a lazy ass?

The answer is: Yes. Of course, being lazy is just being lazy.

But I have a sneaking suspicion (except it's not really sneaking. It's jumping around naked and selling porn) that my ten minutes might just be worth someone else's half a day.

You might call this train of thought arrogance.

I call it Mad Skillz.

Oh, and count all the cliches I used in this post. I'll give you a lollipop.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

The News is Never Mindlessly Entertaining

I know I said it would take me ten days to read the Dodd-Frank act and comment on it. I won't disappoint; it will take that long. So what is this post about? Can't you guess from the title?

The News is NEVER (EVER EVER EVER EVER) Mindlessly Entertaining.

So here I am, bored. Too lazy to skype people, too lazy to be productive (and the READ THAT 208 page summary WITH commentary), too lazy to eat, too lazy to do anything but sit and stare at the computer. There are no new episodes of CSI: Miami, NCIS:LA, CSI:NY... you get the picture. So, I decide to read some news. Catch up with the times. See what's going on in the world. I mean, it's important and I don't necessarily have to THINK. Thinking can come later. I just have to read and shove the information into my brain where hopefully it won't slip out of my nose or something.

I'm bored. I want to be entertained.

Entertained...
Mindlessly Entertained...

GIANT MONSOON OBLITERATES PAKISTAN KILLING 1,500 CIVILIANS: DEVASTATION WHILE PRESIDENT ASIF ZARDARI CHILLS IN FRANCE: POLITICAL UNREST: THE RISE OF RELIGIOUS GROUPS

RECESSION CONTINUES TO FUCK UP OUR LIVES: MAYBE THOUGHTLESSLY SPILLING MONEY ON RANDOM THINGS WASN'T GOING TO FIX THE DECLINING JOB MARKET: CAN THE DEMOCRATS FACE THIS CRIPPLING TRUTH?: THE RABBIT HOLE WAS A LOT DEEPER THAN WE ORIGINALLY THOUGHT: THAT IS, WE DIDN'T BREAK OUR LEGS, WE BROKE OUR NECKS!!!

BLOODY DEMONSTRATIONS IN INDIAN KASHMIR: WE PELT POLICE WITH STONES WHILE WE DRAG DEAD (YES DEAD!) BODIES AROUND SCREAMING OUR HEADS OFF! "FREEDOM!" "YOUR BLOOD WILL START A REVOLUTION!"

and I could go on and on, but whats the point?

I mean,

"It seems today
that all we see, is VIOLENCE in OUR NEWS DISPLAYED on TV

But where are those MINDLESS ENTERTAINMENTS

on which we used to rely??????

Lucky there's a family guy! (where?)

.................................................................."

~!@#$%^&*()_






Friday, August 6, 2010

High School

It's scary how High School haunts me. Some random mornings, I wake up feeling anxious. In my dream I haven't gone to my Spanish class for several weeks. I'm afraid I'll fail the class, not graduate, and it's senior spring. While I'm feeling panicked in my dazed state, I force myself to realize, first, that I didn't take Spanish Spring Term and, second, that I already graduated. Can these "episodes" be classified as anxiety attacks? Could I be feeling four years worth of anxiety and nervousness crashing down on me all at once? Or is this common? This subconscious denial that high school is OVER?

I don't know what it is, but it still freaks the shit out of me.

You know what else freaks the shit out of me?

2,319 pages of the Dodd-Frank Act on Wall street Reform.

It is literally the scariest piece of legislature that I have ever seen. Probably because I never really look at any such documents and if I need to know the answer, I'll wiki it.

Try wiki-ing this!


Were you expecting to find a concise, 3 line... (oh fine.) I mean, 2-3 paragraph summary?

If Yes, join the club of outrageous optimists and we can have tea sometime.

If No, well, aren't you jaded? I'm kidding. You're logical, awesome really. Keep at it. Being Boring that is. I'm kidding about that as well. And I am NOT bitter.

So, of course I have the option of reading this wiki article.

Not bad eh? compared to 2319 pages?

but before I started devouring the text, I used my brain a little. Oooohhhh isn't that scary? Yeah yeah yeah, whatever.

Why bother reading something that's probs 25-30 pages of some pretty interesting (boring) stuff that's only going to give me an overview when I can read a concise 130 page summary by none other than the trusted Deutsche Bank or the 208 page summary with commentary by... I forget? I mean, if you're going to brave the shit, might as well get a full smack in the face, right?

So yeah,

now you know what the next post is going to be all about.

So, if you get bored by this kind of stuff.

I'm giving you fair warning.

see ya,

in like,

10 days. =)


Sunday, August 1, 2010

Bach

People say you know when you are beginning to be fluent in another language when you speak it in your dreams.

Yesterday, I spoke in Music. I woke up today, rushed to my computer, found the piece I had been listening to, and then I clicked here and there, listening to Mozart, Brahms, and then... I clicked on Bach.

And it was sublime. I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe.

And I never felt so inferior in my life.

Bach is famous for counterpoint. If you don't know what that is, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterpoint.

So, Bach somehow composes this fugue so that there are four (or five, or more!!!! who knows? I only heard four) distinct voices with distinct melodies that makes sense harmonically. If that isn't sick enough, try playing the fugue backwards. It STILL makes sense in terms of chord progression and harmony.

How do you do that?

How do you think of that?

How does that come to your head?

How do you put that kind of thing together?

Bach says: "I worked hard. Anyone who works as hard as I did can achieve the same results."

Does this sound hopeful? Motivational?

Who does Bach think he's fucking kidding?

Look, I don't doubt that if I do cultivate my talents, I will accomplish something.

But,

I feel like I lack the talent to do as much as Bach.

But then again,

Bach also said: "It's easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself."

maybe that's really all it takes.

Hard work towards touching the right key at the right time.

and one last quote from Bach, ze master of counterpoint: "Bring me a bowl of coffee before I turn into a goat."