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benjanke


ARCHIVES - February 2004
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2/26/04, 12:55 a.m.: Update frenzy
I apologize for the lack of updates, the last week and a half really hit me hard. I had three tests and a huge-ass project (the report for which, inlcuding a ~60-page appendix, ended up being 88 pages long) all due within a span of about a week and half, sandwiched around the Purdue visit. Even now, with all that behind me, I still don't feel like I can relax, it's really odd. I can't remember the last time I've had that much crap to do; I hope I don't go through that again. At any rate, there's a lot to get caught up on, so I think I will just do a series of mini-updates over the next few days.

The Purdue visit (two weekends ago now) went pretty well - I think the drive up there was something like 7 hours, and really wasn't too bad as I had plenty of music on the 'book to rock out to. Only real "exciting" thing happened when I got pulled over by Indiana State Patrol for going 70 in a 55. I had been on the interstate for the previous 6 1/2 hours, and I was on this highway leading into Lafayette, 2 measly miles from my turn, when the road became a divided highway. Without thinking, I sped up, thinking I was on the interstate again...then flew through an intersection and got pulled over. The guy was nice enough, though, and I didn't try to make up any BS excuses about why I was speeding, so perhaps that's why he only gave me a warning. (whew!) So I felt pretty damn lucky.

The visit itself was much less exciting, but equally interesting. I got to stay in their nice and newly-remodeled MU hotel, with breakfast, lunch, and dinner paid, as well. The campus looked pretty nice, even if it was still covered in snow, and I was also impressed with the scope and high-powered (funded) nature of the research they were doing. The profs and grad students were all really friendly and accomodating, and I could really see myself going there to work on some heat transfer projects or alternative refrigeration systems or something. They had a lot to offer. Anyways, I still have a few more visits to do so I have nothing to compare it to yet, but I did really like what I saw of the school and the town. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so there are no pics - I will be sure and remember it when I visit Minnesota and Wisconsin later this month.
2/12/04, 1:30 a.m.: The adventure begins.
Well, this has been one of those up-and-down weeks, for sure. Got off to a bad start when my WAP blew up somehow while me and Andy were trying to set his up, followed by my PC randomly resetting itself while downloading my email. When I turned the damn thing back on, all the email in my inbox from December 17th to the present was gone >:-(. And there was nothing I could do to get it back; I've tried everything, including messing around with Eudora, virus-scanning, etc. In addition to being a huge pain in the ass, I also lost some important emails, including 8 I didn't have a chance to read, and never will. Hopefully they were all spam. Yesterday was better, however, as I was able to procure a copy of the much-anticipated FF: Crystal Chronicles. Managed to waste 3 hours of my life playing this game last night with Sam and Steve, and although I probably should have studied a bit more for my music test today, it was worth it to do something fun. That game rocks, by the way. However, I probably won't get to touch it for another week and half, as I have a huge design project and two tests due next week. This is one of those weeks I will not miss when I am no longer an undergrad. On the positive front, I leave in roughly 11 hours to go to Purdue for a campus visit and interview for grad school. It's really nice - they're going to roll out the red carpet for me and pay for my travel, room, and food =) Hopefully it goes well and I make it there and back in one piece. Peace out until then.
2/9/04, 11:08 a.m.: Now THAT'S messed up. Also, long post alert: red.
So over the past two weekends, I have managed to go to 3 different concerts/shows. Two weekends ago I went to Minneapolis to see a Gomez concert--my roommate Jess was nice enough to buy tickets for all of us at the apartment to go. The concert itself was at this sweet place near the Target Center called the Quest Club. It was really nicely laid-out and had a raised stage at one end for the band. A lady by the name of Rachel Yamagata opened, and she was a pretty awesome folksy(?) guitarist/pianist/singer. Gomez, whom I'd never heard much of before, played an awesome show. They had a lot of energy and the music was great, the time just flew by while they were playing. All in all a good trip, even if it was -10 F the whole time.

This weekend past I went to two shows, and although they were both in Ames, the first was by far one of the craziest things I've ever seen in person. Oh My God was playing at the M-Shop, and I vaguely remembered them being pretty sweet for a $5 show last time they were here. Well their lead singer, Billy, went completely nuts last time, and we expected much the same this time but he seemed more mellow for some reason. As it turned out, he was not feeling so great, and in the middle of about the 8th song or so he puked all over this bucket that was sitting in the middle of the stage (for a reason, as it were), and had to be helped off. Crazy. So if that wasn't enough, Jim, LKS's lead singer, was in the audience and was convinced to come up and sing a couple songs with OMG. He did an awesome job, and they sounded pretty good. So that was sweet, but the true craziness was yet to ensue. As an encore of sorts, one of OMG's friends from Chicago decided to get up there and sing one last song for the folks. While hopping all over the stage he nearly knocked over the bucket of puke, which was still on stage. Then, he felt the need to pick it up, and DUMP IT ALL OVER HIMSELF, and then fling what's left of the vomit ALL OVER THE CROWD. WTF. It was the most damn disgusting thing I think I've witnessed - makes my stomach turn just thinking about it. Needless to say, that was our queue to exit. To wrap things up, I went to the LKS show (or most of it) on Saturday night at Bali. Good work, Sam, you guys rocked =P
2/6/04, 11:09 a.m.: Weeee, snow
So this winter had been pretty warm and dry and lame up until about the last two weeks. I could really do without the subzero windchills, but it has been really awesome to see about a foot of snow fall in the last week and a half. It's starting to look a lot like it did about 3 years ago when we had all that snow in December. Maybe this has something to do with the Groundhog seeing his shadow or something... but all it really means is I am happy as a clam =)
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