Lyger

Thankfully I've gotten rid of most of the annoying things (like asking for permission for EVERYTHING. "Did you copy this file?" "Did you start this installation?" YES I DID DARNIT) but there's this one thing the source of which I simply haven't a clue... these noises. For one thing, Vista is significantly noisier than XP. Either that or the noises are just more obtrusive, instead of the very functional, to-the-point digital beeps and clicks of normal XP usage... Vista seems to have replaced those with various chimes and tones. But when I delete to the beginning of a form, click on something, perform a function, and it makes a sound, I at least get what's causing that. But every now and then there will be these odd low-pitched chime noises... which I can't even find the source of-- there, it happened again, it was like a doo-dee-doo-doo, and I haven't a clue what's even causing it! Augh, there it goes again! There are two variations, one rising pitch, one falling pitch, they always come in pairs... and I dunno what's doing it. Like, seriously, whose idea was it to make Vista make all these noises anyway? I play a lot of videos and music. I don't want Windows noises going off constantly. I mean, you've seriously got a problem when you've got so many noises that you can't even find the source of all of them.

Nothing beats watching in 720p, except maybe watching in 1080p only my monitor can't handle that. In any case, the thing was HD quality was available and possible, and the file was right there on my hard drive... if I had access to it, why not improve the viewing experience? Ah, whatever. I ended up basically getting really involved in the coding.

10:30 PM - Started watching Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei ep 02, subbed by gg. Realized that the .mkv file was not HD quality. 10:31 PM - Ripped the subtitle script using an .mkv extraction utility. Started watching the episode using an HD raw with the script file. 10:36 PM - Realized that the subtitles were off sync with the raw video I was using by a few fractions of a second. 10:37 PM - Ran the script through a Java app that I'd written a while ago to make minor corrections to subtitle script timings. 10:46 PM - Realized that, due to where the different raws cut the commercial break out, the latter half of the episode was again a fraction of a second off sync. 10:47 PM - Spent some time reading over the script file, and realized that using my current Java app, which selects lines to adjust based on line number, would be extremely difficult considering the script had several parts that were not in strict chronological order. 10:48 PM - Started rewriting my Java class so that it would adjust times on the basis of their relationship to a preset timestamp, and not the line number. 12:24 AM - After numerous rounds of testing, retesting, comparing the script with the video, working out compiler errors, discovering problems I hadn't considered before, and consulting the Java documentation, the class is complete, functional, and free of bugs and glitches. I run the app, fix the script, and realize that it probably would have taken less time to open the script file in TextPad and manually change all the timestamps. Nonetheless I praise my own genius at getting the app to work.

See, my desktop is on XP, and over the past year of heavy usage it's crashed... actually I can't remember it crashing at all. Not the whole system at least, if you mean programs not responding yes, but that's easily taken care of with task manager.

It is quite awesome. Very nice to have a clean slate that I haven't screwed up with loads of downloaded @&*^!! While the OS was setting up, I compiled a list of the programs I really use, various utilities like 7-zip and TeraCopy, etc. got all that stuff installed and now it's basically usable. Speaking of which, stick with Vista vs. upgrade to Windows 7, pros/cons of each? Anyone more tech-savvy with some suggestions? Oh yeah, just for a change, I installed OpenOffice instead of MS Office. I'll have to get used to using it, I guess, but I may as well. Keep with the times, eh? Currently transferring 42.57 gigs of data, and then I'll basically be done. All that's left is little stuff like what wallpaper I'm gonna use... Hmm... wonder what I should name her...

Okay, so if you're comparing two things, you have to use the comparative, e.g. "Comparing the red car and the blue car, the red car is faster," and you can't say "the red car is fastest." If you're comparing three or more things, however, you use the superlative, e.g. "Comparing the red, yellow, and blue cars, the red car is fastest," and you can't say "the red car is faster." What if, however, you've got three things, but you talk about two of them compared to the third? As in, "Comparing the red, yellow, and blue cars, the red and blue cars are [faster/fastest]." ... which would you use? I'm kinda leaning towards the comparative but I'm not sure. When I wake up tomorrow morning (or I should say today morning) the answer will probably seem obvious but oh well. What say ye!

And yes, there's going to be somebody standing there. I've actually gotten further along on that part... I just hid the layers. =) Eh, it's probably pushing it, but I did try to imitate the patterns on Bionicle parts, and the wall and the floor do "fit together" if you look at the connection. EDIT: And this is why we read! Yeah, off to do some modifications since I think that's stretching it way too much as far as custom goes. Wall sucked anyway. Might be able to get away with the floor and railing. Still to do: the rest of the darned city. And yeah, Le-Metru.

I realize that I don't have a lot of songs, especially compared to those folks out there with 3 days of music or something... Still, I've heard that song three times today, and as nice a song as it is, could you get a better random number generator please?

Actually I don't marathon much, and I've never seen that much at once... might run a cour in a day but mostly not. I mean, both seasons of Code Geass (50 eps total) took me maybe 5 days to a week, and that was over winter break. Then again, I have a lot of shows running at once, so I usually have to split my time.

TAKE THE FREAKIN' BRIBE ACHILLEUS. Like seriously, what was up with those Ancient Greeks? So I'm on Book 9 of the Iliad, and I get to the part where Agamemnon spends something like fifty lines listing all the stuff he'll give Achilleus if the latter will be persuaded to rejoin the battle. And I'm like, "Holy geez, that's a lot of stuff. Like, a seriously huge amount of stuff." And obviously Achilleus refuses. WHAT THE HECK. In other news, I'm up to episode 8 of Lain. Every time I think things are starting to make sense, something else happens that just... doesn't. Also this show is extremely creepy and unnerving. Like the scene where everyone is staring at Lain.

So my current monitor is a... what was it? 17" LCD, 1280x1024. I'm quite satisfied with it. I like it. It's a nice monitor. I figured this was going to be the monitor I'd be taking with me to college. My dad figured otherwise. So before I even knew it, today sitting at the bottom of the stairs is a 21.5" widescreen LCD, 1920x1080. ... I mean, wow, that's awesome, but I kinda feel bad about him spending all that money on me. o__o

"Time for the preview quiz!" "Quiz!" "So, you're a bus driver!" "Driver!" "What's the bus driver's name?" "That was too short!" "Yep! It's your name!"

I was either unconscious or he gave me something that prevented me from remembering the surgery (there is a drug that does that, right? I've heard of it). Also numbed my mouth, judging by how my lips felt afterwards (i.e., uh... numb. XD).

Ow! Okay so I'm currently waiting for the painkiller to kick in and trying to ignore the sharp throbbing in my left upper gum. I think I'll go watch random Vocaloid vids off Nico to distract myself... The disappointing thing is the painkiller isn't having any funky mind-altering effects. :< That might partially make up for the whole experience, but noooo I don't even feel drowsy.