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benjanke


ARCHIVES - July 2004
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7/29/04, 4:05 p.m.: OMG ROTK.
It is probably old news, but I came across this the other day. If you skip past the paragraph about the new Star Wars movie (who really cares) it has some info about the extended edition of ROTK, which is coming out in December. Evidently they decided to tack on an extra 50 minutes of stuff, including Saruman's departure, the Houses of Healing, and a few other crucial scenes (IMO). I am super pumped for it to come out -- the 5 month countdown begins now! Also cool is the fact that they added an amazing 20 hours worth of documentary material, and will include a special "Making of the Music" DVD for the super special edition. Being a huge fan of Howard Shore and the fantastic score he created for the trilogy, I am greatly anticipating this DVD as well. I shall now retreat to the nerdery =)
7/26/04, 9:39 a.m.: "At first glance I thought he was some bodybuilder who had strayed from his gym"
Yesterday me, both Sams, and Ross spent the afternoon moving around all of Wong's TV's. Also managed to move Ross's old TV and my couch out of Sherman, too. I think it is safe to say no one would suspect me of having spent much time in a gym, as the afternoon's lone casualty was my fault: the bottom corner of Ross's TV got crunched when I dropped the TV about a foot while going down the stairs =( My arms are super sore this morning, though Sam 'n' Ross did most of the carrying of TV's up and down the Sherman stairs. At any rate, we topped off the evening by eating some Hickory Park and playing a little Four Swords. It was a pretty good day, but I didn't really get much else accomplished (including laundry). Y'arrrrr.
7/24/04, 2:20 p.m.: "You henpecked, boy?"
It has been a pretty crazy week. Last weekend, my old roommate Adam came up for a visit. It was really good to see him, as it had probably been nearly two years since we'd last seen him in Ames. Had a pretty 'eventful' weekend of hanging out, fishing, and playing poker -- 'twas a good time, and after awhile it felt like he hadn't really been gone at all and was just part of the crew again. Last week also saw the beginning of my move out from South Sherman =( Made me remember how much I hate packing. I have so much crap I don't need, I just need to overcome my packrat nature and toss a bunch of it. That will also occupy much of my time this week, as I'm planning on moving out by Friday. Also last week, I stumbled across this, which as my brother informed me could just be an elaborate hoax, or could really be a sweet-looking fan-made 3D version of CT - one of the greatest games ever. I'm hoping for the latter. Finally, for a good laugh, take a look at Andy's iBook, which I have agreed to sell for him while he's in Europe. As of this writing, it still has received no bids and I've already lowered both the starting and BIN prices. Guess there's not much demand for an Apple laptop without a working battery =P Good luck, Andy.
7/13/04, 12:34 a.m.: Eighteen
Last Friday I went to Minneapolis to visit with professors and try to get a better idea of what I will be working on in grad school in the fall. The visit went well, and I feel much better about my decision now. Although I have not yet decided what I will work on, I would like to decide before school starts so I can get started. Most likely I will end up working on a stream modeling project that has as its goal the ability to predict a change in temperature of coldwater (trout) streams that are affected by urban development in their watersheds. It would be an ambitious project, but I think I'd find it exciting. There are also a couple other projects available that are intriguing, so it could be a tough decision. Also while in the Cities, I dropped off the lease and deposit check for my apartment - which will be available August 1st, giving me about 18 days or so to get packed up and moved out. Scary!

Last week I put the remainder of the Blue and White up for auction on eBay. Track the progress of the B&W here, and the video card here, if you're interested.
7/7/04, 8:14 p.m.: I'm not too cool for Harry Potter. (Also, rant alert.)
Since the first book came out, I had made a point to resist the Harry Potter craze, thinking they were just some silly children's books whose popularity had been blown way out of proportion. However, it's been something like 5 years since the first one came out, and most everyone I have talked to -- both young and old -- have highly recommended them. So I thought I would try to read them this summer, beginning on the Europe trip. I devoured the first two books within a week and a half in Europe, and proceeded to mow through the next three in the month since coming back, having finished the fifth one last night. I can now say that I fully understand just what the big deal was with these books; I have not been so completely engrossed in a series of books since I read Lord of the Rings for the first time. They are easy reading and go pretty quickly, but Rowling, to her credit, is a fantastic storyteller, creating an elaborate world of surprising depth and character. This creative storytelling reminded me a bit of reading Brian Jacques novels back in the day. It was also interesting to see how Rowling's writing has improved and matured with each new book, along with her characters. This is also the reason why each book has become increasingly longer, I think: she has packed in a greater amount of detail and made her writing a bit thicker and more enjoyable. In the fifth one, in particular, I even came across a few SAT- and GRE- calibre words =) Harry Potter is still a children's book, perhaps, but as the story becomes more epic, it grows darker as well, and appeals to a wider fan base, I think. At any rate, I am not ashamed to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the series, and now await with great anticipation the release of the sixth book. I suppose now would also be a good time to finally go see all the movies...
7/6/04, 3:22 p.m.: "I also like to live dangerously"
Yesterday it rained all afternoon, so when I went to my intramural soccer game at 6:15 I fully expected it to be cancelled in the interest of preserving the Towers fields - and it was. Not willing to give up so easily, I went to the cross country course (which is just across the road) to go for a run. I realized, however, that I was without appropriate running footwear, having packed only my cleats and sandals. So I locked my bike up to a tree, piled my stuff under it, and decided to run barefoot in the rain. Although this was probably pretty stupid, I lucked out and managed not to step on anything sharp enough to cut up my feet, and got a good run out of it, too. Pretty sure that was the first time I'd done that since some miserable Saturday morning cross country practice back in high school.
7/2/04, 12:20 p.m.: "Thank you, Chuck Norris!"
OK, so lots happening lately, and for awhile I forgot I had a webpage (again). For the sake of those unable to read more than three lines at a time, I will attempt to break this up a bit =) (Andy, if you have trouble, this will be here awhile so you can just check back each day and read the next segment)

I guess the big news is that last week I went and found an apartment in Minneapolis; they approved the application and the lease is en route to me for signing. I got a place in a decent neighborhood about 5 blocks from the lab, and about a mile from campus, so weather shouldn't affect my travel too much. Housing is much more expensive in the Cities, though =(

Two weekends ago, Sam and Erin got married, so congratulations and best wishes to them. The wedding and reception was a lot of fun, especially with all of us degenerate Ames kids there...

Last weekend, Brian turned 21 and I went to IC to help celebrate. It was a good time, but also made me feel really old. I can't believe him and his 'little' friends are already of legal drinking age.

I'm back on a movie-watching binge again, too. Saw Dodgeball last Saturday, which was sort of a letdown in an 'Old School' kind of way: overall a bad movie but had some super LOL parts. Spiderman 2 was also much better than I thought it might be; if they had cut out some of the ridiculously corny dialogue it might have been a bit better, but it could have just been tongue-in-cheek -- who knows. Definitely a good movie, though.

Looking forward to the usual Clear Lake excursion this weekend for the 4th. "Alternative" Risk, poker, and banana-riding is just the sort of vacation I need right now.

Finally, Yann Tiersen is my new hero. When I get some more money, I am going to buy all the music he has ever made.

That is all.
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