Classes were great today, as always. We learned a lot about blowing things up in chemistry, which, if you ask me, is always a good thing. It was funny, we were talking about valence electrons and chemical bonding when all of the sudden, my professor said, “Enough of this, lets blow some stuff up!!” To which the class erupted into uproarious cheering. Does she know how to command the teenage mind or what? I was experimenting with a friend on this mysterious IrDA port that comes on the side of a lot of laptops. Neither he nor I could come up with a valid reason they are still included on modern laptops. Maybe they are there for synchronization of handhelds or in case you lose your remote. At any rate, we had a 100MB test file that we were going to transfer a distance of about three feet. After establishing a network and fiddling with that, we began the test. For anyone who uses IrDA, I am sorry. We quickly realized that a 100Mb test file would try the patience of all those involved, so we dropped that idea for a 10 MB test file and began the process again. The total time to transfer 10MB: (Keep in mind that over an 802.11b wireless connection, the slowest 802.11 standard, this file would take approximately 1.3 seconds) 12.458 seconds. That is an average of about 80.27KB a second. Why, oh why would anyone use this as a standard? So, in spite of the fact that it keeps nerd occupied for about five minutes, we cannot find a valid excuse to keep it on the laptop standard package.
nrfirth | 
30 August 2004 2053 | 
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I went to church this morning. It was a really great service and the worship was lots of fun as well. It is very student based and loud, so it really gets you going. We had lunch afterwards and just kind of hung out and talked. Campus is so quiet on Sundays; most people are still sleeping while I am up and around. I got three phone calls today from an unrecognized number. When I picked up, there was giggling and then the line went dead. Not quite sure what that was, but if it was you, I was none too pleased. What are my big plans for the day, you ask? Well, my friend, I have a thrilling day of Sociology reading, Intro to Engineering reading, and AFROTC reading. I know, I know, everyone is jealous that school is so much fun for me, but that is the way things go. When you take 19 credits, you can have just as much fun as I do! Seriously though, I love being here at school, there are a lot of cool people and classes, so the reading isn’t too bad.
nrfirth | 29 August 2004 1923 | Comments Off
It has come. At long last it has come. Actually, it wasn’t that long in coming. Just the typical five days between weekends still managed to hold true this week. And to be quite honest, the week didn’t seem that long. The longest thing I did was Maple, and you all know the many woes of Maple as a way of completing homework. For those who don’t, let me enlighten you. It is a mathematical program that is said to “Command the Brilliance of a Thousand Mathematicians.” As true as that may be, those mathematicians are hidden behind technical jargon and complicated data entrance methods. You download your assignments from a website, complete them, and submit them online; you get a grade almost instantly. This grade report shows the percentage you got for each problem, then a total grade. However, it does not tell you what you did wrong in each problem that you got less than 100% on. Therefore, you must go examine the entire problem again given the chance that you may change something that is right and get an even lower score. I like the instantaneous scoring, but there are some obvious ways that it could improve.
nrfirth | 28 August 2004 1426 | Comments Off
I went and got my AFROTC uniform today, and let me tell you, trying on long sleeve shirts, pants, and a jacket in the basement of a building on a day like this is not exactly a walk in the park. AND, I had just come from springboard diving, so I was still a little wet from the showers. It was almost painful to have to work so hard to put on clothes. I finished ALL of my homework (all me a geek) for the coming week after classes today, so this weekend I am just swimming and attending church. I have found that tracking homework is a lot more difficult now that I do not have all my classes every day. Some homework is not due until next class, some is due the next day online, and some is due fifteen hours after the class ends. I do like being able to submit homework online, but if you try to get on during peak hours, it is almost not worth your time. Get homework done early kids, and then have the rest of the day to yourself. It is well worth it!
nrfirth | 27 August 2004 1410 | Comments Off
