How much would you pay to become a beta tester for Gmail?

Lately sitting at my desk for long periods of time has grown cumbersome because of various characteristics of my desk and chair that keep me from being able to slide my chair very far under the desk. This means I must lean over to use my computer, a certain ergonomic no-no. So being the little problem solver that I am, I took the arms off the chair and can now slide the chair freely, though I've yet to really get used to the luxury and generally revert back to my old way of sitting/using the computer. Still worse, every time I sit down, I feel like I'm gonna fall out of the chair. You know, because even though I never used to plop down in the chair using the arms as guide rails I guess my equilibrium knew it was there and used it to balance me. Oh, and I also realized how frequently I would use the arms to push myself up out of the chair because on several occasions I've reached down to push myself up and got nothin but air. Maybe I should video tape myself, and watch it to see how funny I look.

...

I know I may regret this later, but I am sooo ready to start work on my research/thesis. The way I feel right now I would trade in the daily grind of going to class then coming home and working homework/projects for a whole day of writing/coding no questions ask. I know, I know, "just wait till I get to the real world, you'll see how much you miss school then." You're all right, looking ahead to the next 50 years (God willing) of going to work everyday doesn't seem all that great either, but I honestly think I would take that over 50 years of homework every night.

The freedom of school is great, and I have taken advantage of the schedule over the last 5 years, but it gets tiresome. Though I once thought I might like to get a PhD, I realized academia just isn't really my thing. I wanna stop thinking about stuff and just do it. Five years from now I may be screaming to get back into to school and that's fine. But right now I just want to get my thesis done and get out. It's my time.

P.S. Prepare yourself for at least 5 thesis related rants per week, because once my exams are finished for the semester it's all I'll be working on.

Fantova first met Einstein in 1929 in Berlin. She arrived in the United States alone in 1939 and, at Einstein's urging, attended library school at the University of North Carolina.

Was Einstein a Tarheel fan?

Well he doesn't have his own weblog (yet), but thanks to the wonder that is TheDustin Daily, you too can bask in the joy of Thunder's Paradise Weekend, the NFL Draft and a Jeff Gordon 'upset'.

And with all the poking and prodding he does, I certainly need to get on adding commenting capabilities to those articles. But first, my school work ...

Having a debilitatingly flat tire in an area that is the poster child for suburban sprawl is like when you (well maybe not you, but certainly I) convince your mother you need to take a day off from school to "catch up". You know, you're not really sick but could use the extra 8 hours by not going to school so you can finish your projects or study for that big test that's coming up. Only problem is, you're not sick and it's a beautiful day and all you wanna do is go outside and play. You keep telling yourself no matter how much time you waste that "it's ok, because it's only 11 am and I still have 4 more hours than I would have." And that goes on for the next 4 hours and your friends start getting home from school and start calling, eager to tell you about all you missed. And you missed a lot because today was the surprise ice cream party your class won for making the most money during the fund-raiser. And today was the day Sarah broke up with Bobby Joe and though she really liked you more, Steve went to school today so they'll probably be goin out for a week and that's just another week you have to wait.

Fast forward a few years and you're driving out of your apartment complex, but something doesn't seem right. There's this loud roaring noise coming from the rear of the car that sounds like a misplaced engine (and a much much more powerful one than your wimpy 2 cylinder lawn mower engine at that). Suddenly you're having flashbacks of your Drivers Ed teacher telling you to kick-check all four tires and make sure your brake lights are working everytime you crank up the car. "Yeah, right" you said, "Who does that?". Now you're sorta wishing you were the one guy that did that, even though you semi-rationalize that the only thing kick-checkin the tire would have done for you is put you in the same situation, just 500 feet closer to your apartment.

Stepping out of the car, you know exactly what the problem is, exactly where it's coming from but no idea exactly how it happened or what to do about it. What you do know is, no matter what the problem is, you're not goin anywhere, because even if it was a 10 minute fix, no one should have to fix a flat and Corporate America's problems all in the same day, that is unless you're a manager for Merchants. Oh, and for those of you who wanna get smart and remind me that I'm still in school and don't fix Corporate America problems, you're wrong, because optimal truck scheduling algorithms are a BIG problem for Corporate America.

So after all of this, you have what amounts to a mental health/catch up day. Well timed because I have a lot of catching up to do, and in spite of myself, I actually did some work. Not as much as I could have, but I'm grateful for baby steps. And as for the tire, well we couldn't find anything wrong with it, but I needed new tires anyway so today was a good time to get them, just before another trip to Maryland to see my little lady.

I just hope today wasn't the free ice cream party day at school.

Flat tire = unexpected day off.

I just hope I can get some work done.

Well, it's Friday evening and instead of participating in normal 23 year old Friday night activities I will be heading over to my dad's house for dinner and to help him with some computer stuff. As pathetic as that sounds a) I wouldn't normally participate in 23 year old Friday night activities anyway, and b) it gave me a great idea for a new reality TV show. Everyone else has a reality TV show, why shouldn't I?

Anyway, here's the schedule that I'll pitch for my new reality show, Friday Nights with Dads ...

Week 1: thedustin and theDad treat everyone to a movie based on some sort of war conflict, fictional or "true to life"

Week 2: BJ and Papa Collins treat everyone to a night out at Jumbo China, where you can have all the Mongolian beef, chicken, pork, shrimp and frozen yogurt in a cone you want.

Week 3: Politics and Haircut Discussions with the Gilligans. Dan and Dad discuss their differences in front of a live studio audience and field questions about the latest in politics and haircut habits ("Guard size No. 3, four times a year whether I need it or not.", right Dan?)

Week 4: E-Pa and Father Paris build a super computer dream machine right before your very eyes. And who knows what they'll talk about next? With these two going, producers won't worry about dead air, they'll fret over when they might get a commercial break in.

That'll do for the first month. Stay tuned when I release the next months schedule to include the Wheelers, the Mikells, and many many more.

Travis On the DL (that's disabled list not down low) Punchline of the Day
(So I haven't done such a good job of keeping up with this, but I've been busy)

"So, T-Rav, BJ and Amber are moving this weekend. Any chance you wanna get up off your lazy bum and help?"

The title, as of this writing (titles change sometimes with net articles), reads Adult 'Happy Meals' offer salad, no prize.

What's happy about this meal? You're eating grass and you don't even get a prize for it.

My mom loves corn, probably more than any other food in the whole wide world. White Silver Queen corn is her favorite, though she can definitely handle some yellow corn. She'd probably eat it any reasonable way you can think to prepare it, but "on-the-cob is the best", she'd tell you.

And now you're saying, "so what? What's the big deal?"

The big deal is after this Sunday's Easter dinner, my mom sent seven ears of white Silver Queen corn on the cob home with me. Why? Because of that silly old man (may he rest in peace) and that silly little diet he came up with. Because, in this America, people fear carbs more than the devil himself.

I love my mother, and if she wants to be on a diet that's fine by me as long as it makes her happy. But how can she be happy? She can't have her favorite food! And by golly, we're not talking about strawberry cheesecake here, or man-made synthetic cheesy Doritos. This is corn we're talking about!!! You can't get much more natural than what the pilgrims and indians ate at the first Thanksgiving.

I know and understand that even natural foods can be bad for you. But we've been eating this stuff for 200 years now (we being "Americans"). Aren't we living longer than we used to? Yeah modern medicine helps, but that surely isn't overwhelming evidence that corn hurts! I'm just really tired of the obsession with carb counting. And I know how cliche it has become to complain about the Atkins and South Beach diets. But after all of the giving, giving, and more giving from my mother over my 23 years, at the very least this is the one thing I should be able to say "no" and push back at her.

Besides, what the crap am I gonna do with seven ears of corn?

Well, depending on how thorough my coding efforts were, you should be able to see that I've been slightly distracted by things not pertaining to school, thesis, or hired work. Honestly, though, I only spent about 2-3 hours total last night and this morning laying it out and getting Scribnotes' retarded templating engine to work the way I needed it to. Through it all, this is the end result. I'd love to know what you guys think.

And while we're on the subject of web development. I just wanted to let the few faithful Scribnotes users know that I haven't forgotten about them. I have a long list of things I really want to do with Scribnotes, including (oh no!) a redesign! Unfortunately school has been a "distraction". I must say, though, that it was nice to get down and dirty with html/php/adobe again and it's a nice stress reliever (most of the time). So as the semester draws to a close, I'll probably be busier than ever, but I can definitely see web development as a nice release from thesis work this summer. So hang in there.

[Edit 15:48] Oh yeah, and Ralle Cup players ... I also have good things waiting in the wings with that too. But like I said. Busy busy busy. Not sure when I'll get to everything.

Yes, the rumors are true. I broke Travis' ankle yesterday on the court.

Literally.

He has a small fracture at the bottom of his fibula (I believe), that luckily is located in an area where surgery is not necessary. However, he has been given directions from the doctor to "lay around and watch TV" and is strapped into a really cool boot thing that has us both convinced would actually give him a quicker first step. Well the doc also told him to walk on crutches for a few days so we'll have to wait to test our theory out. Anyway, I tell you this because I felt it was a perfect opportunity for another web gimmick that I'm sure to fail at following up on, but here goes the ... (drum roll please)

Travis On the DL (that's disabled list not down low) Punchline of the Day
(There were so many good ones today that I just couldn't decide on one ... you know, kinda like when you have a new toy you can't stop playing with it. Well that was me today with the jokes.)

"T-Rav, wanna go on a run?"

[In his doorway, I'm about to go on a run and I don't want to take my keys ...] "Hey, you're not gonna run off anywhere are you?"

"Hey, while I'm gone, will you mind taking out the trash?" [Editor's Note: 3234, the humble abode of T-Rav and myself is on the third floor]

"Now I get to tell everyone I broke your ankles with my mad game."


Ok, I think that's enough torture for right now. On a serious note, I've been immobilized similarly a couple of times myself and I know it isn't fun. And I do feel somewhat responsible, so I am sorry about the whole thing. But maybe next time he'll learn not to try and stop me when I'm on the way to the hoop. I'll get there no matter what it takes, cause that's what scorers do, right Thunder?

This made me laugh for an unreasonably long period of time ...

Dollar Losing Value Against The Quarter
NEW YORK?After falling 6 percent in the past three weeks, the U.S. dollar hit a 208-year low against the U.S. quarter, which had been valued at exactly 0.25 dollars since its introduction in 1796. "The dollar continues to slide against most major currencies," Morgan Stanley analyst Richard Jemison said. "At the end of the day Tuesday, the quarter was trading at .267 yen, .203 euros, and US$0.28. But what we're really seeing here is not just a dollar weakened by a sluggish economy, but an exceptionally resilient quarter-dollar." Jemison was quick to point out that the dollar remains very strong against the nickel.

Source: The Onion

It's baaaack [Edit: For those of you who are "out of the loop", click on the stupid link].

... the guy who walks me every Monday and Wednesday ...