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| 12/31/03, 1:57 p.m.: Last post of 2003 |
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Well I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, I know I certainly did. Went home for a bit
and spent a lot of time
sleeping and watching movies, beat DKC 2 with my brother, and ate my weight in sugar cookies.
Other than that, I suppose, a few other interesting things have gone down in the last week. Got grades back
last Wednesday, and the semester turned out as well as I could have hoped, so that's
all good. Went home Monday to do laundry, and ended up watching the whole LOTR trilogy
with Brian - quite an accomplishemnt, I think, but it was also fun to see how they
all fit together. It will be one crazy day, though, when the extended version of the
third one comes out and we can try and take down 11 straight hours of epic movie goodness =P
I also found time last weekend to try snowboarding at Seven Oaks, which was kind of a disaster (I suck),
but also fun. Definitely got me excited for going to Vail next week. We leave bright and early
Sunday morning, I can't wait. Should be a great time, and there will be plently of snow, too, which
will be sweet.
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| 12/19/03, 11:17 a.m.: (done) |
I suppose there is a bit of wisdom in the old saying "don't put all your eggs in one
basket." Basically in my case it means that I should have at least spent some time
studying the stuff for the optional second half of the final I just took. I devoted all my effort
to studying for the first half of the test (which covered 1 chapter instead of 12),
but it ended up being really hard. However, I didn't even pick up the second half
because I don't have even a shred of motivation left. In fact, I should be taking that
final right this minute if I was worth a damn, but I am just glad to be done, I guess.
In more pleasant news, yesterday afternoon I got a preliminary acceptance letter from
the University of Wisconsin's ME Department, saying that I would receive official
acceptance in a month or so. What this means is that I will most likely not have to
even apply to Iowa State for grad school, unless of course UW turns out to
be a bust. Definitely sweet.
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| 12/18/03, 2:08 a.m.: OMG ROTK! |
Okay, Return of the King hardly needs
a review, since it was so awesome. This is evidenced by the fact that all five of us that went yesterday
(me, Sam, Andy, Ross and Steve) all agreed that it was sweet, and we have probably never
ever agreed on any one thing before, let alone on an opinion of a movie.
At any rate, here's my two cents. Although the movie started out a bit slow and seemed
sorta choppy with all the brief scenes and token appearances (necessary, I guess, to
allow the movie to stand on its own), this didn't last long
and it totally rocked the rest of the way. With the exception of a few scenes, it
stayed remarkably true to the third book (and latter part of the second), and this really
made the movie for me since I enjoyed the third book the most. All of the important
scenes (or at least my favorites, hehe) were almost verbatim from the book,
which was good to see. It was a highly engrossing movie, with some stunning
(and lengthy) battle sequences, sweet music, and, as Andy pointed out, some pretty awesome
camera and cg work. It was really really damn good - I left the theater in a state of awe.
Evidently other people enjoyed it, too, as some even clapped at the end, and sniffled
and wiped their eyes during the last 20 minutes or so. Andy has also made it his goal
to find out who the Portman look-alike extra was in one of the city scenes (good luck.) =P
At any rate, I definitely will be seeing this one again soon.
(/moto)
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| 12/15/03, 8:15 p.m.: 3 down, 1 to go |
I have spent the better part of the last 4 days studying for finals, so now that I have three
of four done as of today (with one taken care of last week), I figure it would
be a good time to update. As you will all be undoubtedly happy to hear,
I think I old-schooled both the take-home final I turned in today, and the hydraulics
test I took this morning. So now I have one left on Friday, then I am done. This also
means that I will have plenty of time to go see Return of the King on Wednesday, and
in fact, I went today and bought tickets to the 4:10 show. I can hardly wait, it is
going to be SO kickin' rad. Also today, 2 of my 8 grad school applications were due, so
I can only hope that everything made it there on time. The other 6 are also in the mail but
have a little more time to get where they need to go. For those keeping score at home,
here's where I applied:
-- Minnesota-Twin Cities (Mech. Engr. and Civil Engr.)
-- Michigan (Civil & Environmental Engr.)
-- Wisconsin-Madison (Mech. Engr. and Civil & Environmental Engr.)
-- Purdue (Mech. Engr.)
-- Colorado (Mech. Engr.)
-- UC-Davis (Civil & Environmental Engr.)
So wish me luck. Also, I wish it would snow some more.
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| 12/4/03, 2:25 a.m.: SNOW! |
I realize this is old news, but it snowed yesterday! It was really coming down
good for awhile, too. Like usual, I found an excuse to go out and wander around
for a bit (went and got cold medicine at HyVee), and snapped a few photos.
Pictures never turn out well in the dark, but the snow creates such neat
lighting. At any rate, I hope having snow this early is a good sign of things to come,
since we didn't get our first snow last year until probably the end of January...
Corner of 3rd and Walnut...I think
View from just up the street
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| 12/1/03, 12:29 p.m.: "Is that it fo' yo' ass?" |
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I have made it back from Alabama and New Orleans in one piece! The trip, with the
exception of nearly two days' worth of driving, was an awesome time. The weather
in Alabama was perfect for soccer: dry, no wind, low 70's. And they had lights
so we could play at night, which was pretty sweet, too. We ended up advancing
out of our bracket, but lost in the quarterfinals in a super-violent game with
Vanderbilt. It was a lot of fun, though. Afterwards we spent the extra day just
hanging out in Tuscaloosa, which is an okay place but not nearly as exciting as our
next destination, which was New Orleans. We spent two evenings and one day here in
a hotel about a couple miles outside of downtown--which means we were staying
in the 'hood. It wasn't really scary or anything, but it was kind of strange
that there were bars on all the windows, even at the church down the street. I had
the chance to eat at some nice restaurants in the downtown/French Quarter area
(including one of Emeril's three restaurants), and was sure to sample the gumbo
each time. Cajun food is so awesome =) We also, of course, hung out on Bourbon
Street and the French Quarter (avoiding anything dirty, mind you), which was also
a good time. They have a lot of live music and blues clubs in that area, and it would
have been sweet to be there when more people were around. As it was, the place
was still pretty busy for Sunday and Monday nights. I have some pictures, and
will try to put them up when I get a chance, but there aren't really that many
good ones. All in all, it was a good time,
except that I brought back a massive flu/cold which all but ruined Thanksgiving dinner
for me. I know it's hard to believe,
but being sick has all but eliminated my appetite =)
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