That's 105 Percent

Emergency Post

2008-08-14T20:51:00.001-04:00

Sad Harry Potter News :(

This is strictly for increased profit/strategic representation of profit. I understand it and am not happy.

I am a Slacker

2008-08-14T19:53:00.003-04:00

My slacking extends beyond my lack of posts into the "required" reading for Cornell that should be done when I move in. I've already read "Lincoln at Gettysburg" thanks to my AP Lang class... so I am not particularly interested in reading it again; however, I don't remember any major point from the book so clearly I can't pull enough BS from my past reading. I should be able to get through it quickly since I am at least familiar with the writer and such...I hope.

Nothing has really been happening that's all too exciting. My iPhone is pretty awesome and is getting plenty of use for multiple purposes.

I spent my day today doing training for the fish care I will be doing for the folks in my Dad's lab several times a week or so during the school year as a job for spending money. It's a good deal to remember, with all the different tasks that need to be done beyond feeding the fish, including setting up the right fish for crossing genes, cleaning tanks etc. Since my Dad's lab works solely with fish, they house thousands of them in multiple stories of tanks. Picture the "harvest" buildings from The Matrix but with fish and without the fake world. It's a little tedious but really easy and only requires a few hours in a day to do.

Matt write your letter.

There's a Polar Bear in my Frigidaire...

2008-08-08T17:55:00.002-04:00

Not much has been happening so I haven't really had anything to drone on about here, but I'll go through a few things.

The title references today's purchase of a Frigidaire, 2.4 cubic foot fridge that will have a new home in my dorm room next year. I'm not really sure what I will use it for other than having a stockpile of drinks for when I am too lazy to go to a vending machine/store. I am sure I will find some use for it.

I also cleaned my entire room to add to just my desk. I even vacuumed. I can now see a majority of my floor, rather than the floor being like stepping stones in a stream of clothing, books and other objects. I think I can handle keeping it like this for the next two weeks.......i think.

I'd just like to comment also on the negative attention that text messaging gets. Sure it is bad in many cases... distracts the participant, decreases conversational skills and often costs extra money, but I'd like to remind people that it has some positive effects... or could. I was doing some college shopping the other day and I was lucky enough to overhear part of a young-woman's conversation (she was in her 20s I think). This is what I got out of what I heard....
something along the lines of, "blah blah #%^ blah blah #%^^ #$#@@ @5#, I really have to take a piss, blah blah @$%#^." Keep in mind this in a very loud voice. Folks, most cell phones can pick up your voice perfectly fine, just because you're talking to someone far away does not mean you need to shout anymore. Personally, I do not want to be barraged with a rain of expletives and unnecessary personal information while out in public. If you feel the need to tell your buddy on the other end that you have to use the restroom, send them a text message. Make some use of the privacy such things invoke. That way, you can continue your unintelligent conversation and be happy and the young children or peaceful shoppers do not have to listen to such nonsense and can be happy. A win win.

Finally, I got an e-mail this afternoon from Cornell, labeled URGENT. I thought it was a scam for a second but when I read it, they informed me that the "deadline" for my wish list for my course schedule for the fall semester was due today. I had planned on doing this sometime this weekend, unaware that there was any sort of time limit. No big deal, I just finished a bit ago plotting the classes I think I would like to take to start off college. I am sure my faculty advisor or my father will tell me how bad my choices are, but until then I am pretty happy (No history!!).

Right now I have:

Intro to Mandarin: I need to take 12 credits of a language since I refuse to continue Spanish, which I really did not like. Since this class is two parts, each 6 credits, I can be done with my language requirement in the first year and only continue with Chinese if I like it.

Object-Oriented Programming and Data Structures: A CS course, part of the requirements for CS major.

Discrete Structures: Same as above.

Astronomy: Stars, Galaxies, and Cosmology: This is an intro astrophysics(aka rocket science) course. It'll use the calculus I learned in high school and seems interesting.

Linear Algebra: Since I can place out of all the intro Calculus stuff, I can take this and/or multivariable calc. Will fill a math requirement for my college and one for my major, I would take this anyway.

Freshman Writing Seminar: I can't choose this yet, but one that caught my interest was The Mystery in the Story, which examines mostly mystery novels and the different tools the authors such as Conan Doyle use to develop the plot, characters etc.

Gym: Either intermediate bowling or Taekwondo, I have to decide.

I think it's an interesting array of stuff for my first semester. Eventually I will have to take a little history/more English, but I'm sure I can find some interesting courses in those areas (Intro to Military History anyone?).

Clean Up.

2008-08-04T19:00:00.002-04:00

I've started cleaning up my rooms so that it's nice when I move into my dorm in less than 3 weeks. The whole place is one heap of a mess so it's sort of a big job. I managed to get my desk presentable today and to clear out all the tidbits that were in all of it's drawers. I found some interesting stuff that I had hidden away in there like maps from Disney World (1997), astrojacks (look them up they are SICK), candy, silly magic tricks and much more. Tomorrow I will hopefully get a majority of the work done tackling the floor and other surfaces in the room. The other big thing will be my closet, which will take the most time. I have to go through my clothing and get rid of some of the stuff that doesn't fit or is in bad shape, and also deal with the many containers of stuff that are on the floor, hidden away in the shadows of my shirts and pants. Nothing else of interest is happening right now, yes my life is quite exciting, I know.

Biased Teachers? Sigh

2008-08-02T17:09:00.014-04:00

The Story/Explanation:(Click photos to zoom in even more!!!)

In an effort to maintain civility and respect, I will not mention the teacher or class this took place in; it's obvious enough for those who were in the class. This is from earlier in the 2007-2008 school year but I thought it was something important to post. Further, the photos are not as clear as I would like them to be, so the different colors I refer to are not as obvious, however it is still visible, and the blue also appears darker than the black I think.

In this class we were assigned an essay nearly every weekend, usually of about a page in length. It soon grew into a habit for me to write my name on my papers rather than type it, since I could simply write it in the margin, thus leaving more space for squeezing text onto the single page. Unfortunately, due to my forgetfulness on busy days, I handed in an essay without my name, as I did not remember to write it in before class. Well this happened for the essay above, and several days later the teacher ultimately figures out that it was mine after reading the first sentence. The next day I get the paper back as it is above in the pictures, I haven't changed anything. Notice the two different colored inks, black for the student Mike (the teacher's guess of whose paper it was before he knew) and my name written in blue ink. The paragraph on the back is my "explanation" as to the grade I gave myself which is below. This was basically an out for the teacher so that he did not have to read an essay if he did not want to, letting us grade ourselves. The B+ that is crossed out was the grade I gave myself. Notice the circle around it in black ink. The teacher had first, when thinking it was the student Mike, circled the grade I had given myself, a B+. But now it is crossed out in blue ink, the color he used after discovering it was mine. And while there are no comments about my explanation in black ink, there is now a comment in blue ink about something that is wrong with the paper. And finally, the lower grade of a B in blue to the right of the old grade. It is clear that for some reason, the paper as written by "Mike" was going to receive a B+ while the paper now known to be written by "Robert" receives a B, with a comment that did not exist previously. The lowered grade is not due to my forgetfulness of a name, since the teacher clearly indicates that he thinks.. "my sarcasm may not be quite gentle enough." A "B", a "B+", the difference is minimal and I really did not care about the difference and I am not complaining here as a "sore loser" or nerd who wants the "+". Rather, I am shocked by the absurdity of the occurrence and further by the lack of care in the teacher to conceal his bias, or if it was not bias, to at least make it CLEAR that it was not bias that led to a change in grade. Oh well, the year is over, that class is over (C+ final grade!!, but a 5 on the AP...a slight discrepancy) and I just find this example very comical because it is so obvious.

No, I never confronted the teacher about it. If you were not in the class, you would not understand but to accuse the teacher of bias to their face would be the equivalent of suicide for your grade. I strategically kept silent, but now it doesn't matter and I only keep the class and teacher concealed out of courtesy; my point, that biased teachers are a reality and grades are based around more than they are meant to be, would not be strengthened by naming names.

Great Success!

2008-08-01T21:13:00.005-04:00

To my extreme happiness, a sleek black 8gig iPhone engraved with my name will be arriving at the local AT&T store within 10-20 days, ready for activation. This is the outcome of a family trip to the store earlier today, where we strolled about in the "line" as couples bickered with each other and the employees about getting the wrong rebate, how many text messages they should get or other such nonsense. Luckily, while the wait was slightly grueling, we managed to get serviced before closing time at 8 and the process at this point was really simple. Just give a name, phone number and order, and swipe the trusty old credit card for billing when the phone ships. We did this three times and were out the door minutes after saying hello to the rather nice female employee (I think she was happy our request was not as complicated as the previous couples'). While that part was simple, I hope that the store is not busy when we go back to activate our phones and set up the family plan. Considering we will be doing it for 3 phones at once and there are so many random things that take time in the process, it could take far too long. This would be coupled with the people in line breathing down our necks as they wait, not so much fun. Oh well, at least we know what we are doing, some guys there today were buying iPhones but had to ask for detailed explanations of the possible plans for the phone. If you're going to spend hundreds on a phone and such I should think one would care enough to research further than just knowing the price of the phone. All in all it this part was easy and I am excited for the bad boy coming soon to an AT&T store near me.

Random Things

2008-07-31T18:29:00.008-04:00

Posters

Well, I just finished going poster shopping online (after buying the above one while out today) so that I have some stuff to put up around my dorm when I move in (just one more month). Unfortunately, it seems that finding posters of some movies is actually quite difficult and I've had to admit defeat for certain movies(Pan's Labyrinth, The Departed, The Prestige (too expensive)); however, I happily discovered a smaller poster for the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer which is a brilliant film, which requires no knowledge of chess to understand and learn from. Anyway, buying a lot of posters is expensive so I may have to cut some of my choices out before I checkout. The reason I'm buying posters is that when we started renting the house we now still rent 4 years later, we were told, for obvious reasons, that we could not puncture the walls and will be paying for any damages. This dissuaded me from hanging any posters in my room and although there are obvious workarounds such as tape, I just never got around to putting any up. I figure now is the perfect time and some posters will make my dorm room a little more interesting.

Harry Potter

Yes, I am a very big fan of Harry Potter, both the books and the movies. I could write about the subject for pages and pages but I will refrain from doing so. However, I cannot help but mention the newly released trailer for The Half-Blood Prince, the 6th movie to be in theaters later this year. This is the first real footage of the film and it focuses mostly around the scene in which Dumbledore first meets Tom Riddle, quite the important scene from both the book and entire series. Hopefully this means that director David Yates understands what needs to be put into the movie vs. what can be left out. I am a bit concerned for the success of this movie however. HBP is easily the book which contains the least action in all of the series. The focus is more on character development, plot and drama rather than something like Goblet of Fire which had an abundance of action sequences. I have already heard that the movie will contain a scene that does not exist within the book, where dementors attack The Burrow (Ron Weasley's home). The scene seems to be added as "filler material" for the plot heavy book which contains very little action until the final chapters. I guess this was to keep the more casual movie-goers from utter boredom. This seems odd to me. I cannot imagine anyone going to the theater to see a HP movie for the action sequences. Sure we've seen dragon battles, duels, giant snakes, but let's face it, hype surrounds a HP movie because everyone wants to see how each book looks when it is truly brought to life. I really think this movie could be the greatest of the Harry Potter movies. There is so much material to develop and bring to life and I hope that this movie does not lose sight of the development in favor of action. If anything, the trailer looks like a step in the right direction, making the film look extremely dark (which it is), character driven (which it is) and in many ways disturbing. If any of the books could be taken as close to a horror story, this one would be it so I am a happy fellow when I say that this trailer really does have elements of a horror movie. The suspenseful atmosphere is very apparent and the tension in the voices seems all too real. I'll follow this movie closely as news is released. I am, obviously, excited about it.

Reading

Have you ever wondered how Peter Pan came to exist? Where he learned to fly and how in the world he ever met Tinker Bell? What about Captain Hook and his pirate crew, what's up with them? These are questions that always come to my mind when I see any form of the classic story. Right now I am in the middle of the 3rd book in a well thought out trilogy about Peter Pan. The three books, "Peter and the Starcatchers", "Peter and the Shadowthieves" and "Peter and the Secret of Rundoon" chronicle the life of Peter before he was the ageless, flying boy who everyone knows of. The trilogy answers all of the questions I listed above and many more. The giant crocodile? Yeah, Yeah, that's explained too. Before you misunderstand, these books are not just a strewn about mess which occasionally has a cool reference to the well known story. No, the trilogy has it's own amazing story itself, the explanations and references are blended perfectly into the unique story of the books and are just an added bonus for readers. This is all it would take to convince me to read them so this is all I will write, feel free to research some more or leave questions if you have any.

College

I move into Cornell University, Clara Dickson Hall in less than a month. There are lots of little things to do like billing, an alcohol course, pre-picking classes, signing up for a swimming test and of course buying things for the dorm. I've recently bought a Macbook Pro, small lap-desk thingy, drying rack, pants, shirts, fan, power strip, dry-erase board, cushion thing for sitting in bed, a thing to hold bathroom stuff, that's all I can remember right now. A lot of things I am just bringing from home along with big stuff like my T.V, clothing, alarm clock, storage space etc. Hopefully tomorrow I will start working in my room. I want to move all my video games to a shelf so they are sort of on display instead of inside of the side tables that they are now. And then of course I have to clean the whole room, get rid of old clothing and make it nice looking so my parents don't have extra work to do once I run away and only come back for money and stuff I forgot. I think I will be more excited in a week or two when the change is more imminent.

Game

Earlier this year, in my free time that comes with Senior Year I discovered The World's Hardest Game. 30 levels of moving a box through some dots to a green area. Sure it was hard and took some practice but it certainly was not THAT hard. Well, last week I discovered The World's Hardest Game 2 and this one is much more true to it's name. There are now 50 levels and I was struggling on levels in the teens more than I was on any level in the original game. I am still only somewhere in the low 20s and I have a ridiculous number of deaths. The games do NOT save your progress, so you have to leave the window open all the time until you beat the game. If you have some free time and are bored, give the first one a shot but be prepared to lose and get frustrated. Have fun.

Running

I have always sucked at running. Small distances, longer distances, I am bad at them all. Well, recently I figured I would give the running thing a shot, since I have been working out more doing cardio like biking and such and am finally in reasonable shape (Compared to 10th and 11th grade if you knew me then, I've dropped 40ish pounds). I ran for a few days before leaving on my vacations and ran the two days between vacations but could not muster up the dedication to do it DURING the vacations. Oh well, no biggie. My house is actually the perfect location for running, since it is so close to the trails in Sapsucker Woods, which provide soft paths and interesting locale (not to mention shade!) while going at it. My goal is to run every day from yesterday until I move into college and see what kind of shape I am in by then. I tried to run about a 5k today (3.1 miles) which required that I stay on the roads since I could not easily determine distance on the trails (the listed sizes on the signs are crap). It ended up being about 3.1 just going down Sapsucker Woods Rd from my house, back up the road to Rt. 13 and then back home. Being the poor runner that I am I had to stop a couple of times and walk a bit in order to ensure that I did not keel over. It ended up taking 28:51. I don't think I will do that every time, since although it gives me a good distance measurement, it is really boring and difficult compared to running on the trails. I don't really have any goals I'm trying to reach by the 22nd as far as running ability/time but I guess I could just see how much I can cut that time down if I keep it up every day.

Another long post, but now that I have sort of caught up on what I want to write about, they should be shorter. Tomorrow my family and I should be going to the AT&T store to try and pre-order/reserve some iPhones from an upcoming shipment, we'll see how that goes. Still need to do a TDK review, I might wait until I go see it again.

Finally back!

2008-07-30T16:40:00.008-04:00

As the title implies, I am finally back home for an extended period of time (as in more than 2 days) and will be staying in Ithaca for the remainder of the summer, the exception being the weekend before I move into Cornell. I've had a busy 2 weeks or so, first going on my annual family vacation to Ocean City, NJ from Thursday the 17th until Monday the 21st and then leaving again that next Thursday the 24th for Long Island until yesterday the 29th.

The trip to Ocean City was very much like every other year that I've gone, which is a great thing. We go down every summer in late July with a bunch of family on my Dad's side, my grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins etc. For those unfamiliar, Ocean City is about 20 minutes driving distance from Atlantic City, in fact the two share the same boardwalk. One could walk along it from OC and end up in the middle of casinos and the like. We all stay at a "motor inn" called The Forum which is a 2 minute walk to the center of the boardwalk. It's equipped with a large pool, comfy rooms and a game room with ping-pong table. The weekend is always very relaxed, everyone does what they want, when they want, we roam about, swim in the pool most of the afternoon, go mini-golfing, eat, shop, walk, eat, swim, you get the idea. I think I should mention that some of the greatest pizza to be had anywhere can be found here at this place..

The major difference this year was that our family group lacked a significant number of members due to the birth of a new family member. My eldest cousin and her husband recently had a baby boy and this of course meant that they, my aunt and uncle (her parents) and my cousin (her brother) could not come for the weekend. Nothing too noteworthy to discuss specifically about the trip really. One thing I always find myself struggling with every year is choosing which dessert to have each night. There are so many exceptional places to eat in the area that it really is a big decision. To alleviate the stress of choice, I decided the first night to eat 3 desserts! I had a large polish ice, a large soft serve ice cream from this (German?) chain called Kohr Bros. and a milk shake from this amazing place across the street from our motel. I also spent two afternoons falling asleep by the pool, without sunblock, resulting in extreme sunburn on my face, legs and shoulders. When you have sunburn... EVERYTHING hurts, showering, walking, sleeping... you get it. I kicked ass at mini golf, played lots of ping-pong and had a great time. I'd love to have interesting pictures of the trip but since the new iPhone that I'm planning to get is impossible to find at this time and I refuse to carry around a full size camera, I am out of luck. Hopefully I can get a hold of one before college starts.

My two days back were pretty laid back, played some tennis, sat around, packed for the next trip... oh and SAW THE DARK KNIGHT (Insert Movie Review Here When I Get To It!!!!!!!!) In short, it is amazing.

Driving through New York City sucks. That sums of the traveling part of my trip to Long Island. The visiting part was much less stressful. Hung out with good friends that I grew up with, ate lots of food, met new people, saw some movies ex: Step Brothers (Insert Review!!!!) and THE DARK KNIGHT AGAIN!!!! The main purpose of the trip was a grad party that a good friend was having and that was a blast, especially since it erupted into a food/cake/water fight...

Yea, it was intense.

I ended the trip with a day at the water park Splish Splash, which I used to go to all the time back when I was living on Long Island. Being the traveler that I am (never leaving the US), I watch the travel channel sometimes, and Splish Splash was rated the 5th best water park in the country. The place is really large, with tons of rides, food and $3.50 soda machines to rip you off. But really, it is a load of fun, going from 9am-7pm, open to close, seeing all the different people, riding water, even waiting in line is made more interesting when you're with people and have plenty of things to observe going on all around you. The place did seem larger in my memory than it actually was, i guess a good example of the idealistic memory concept. It was still a blast and I wish I had a camera for the last 15 minutes, when I went on the Cliff Diver, a massively tall, straight drop slide, it stands far above the tree's and the view from the (swaying) top was stunning as the sun starting to set for the evening.

All in all a great 2 weeks, although very tiring (my feet ached from hours at the park without shoes, standing in line and walking on cement). I got home yesterday only to go out within the hour for an event that I will not reveal. Anyways, I woke up today at 1:30pm as a result of my tiring 2 weeks and such (ahem).

Wow this ended up really long, sorry. I'll end with the hope that I pull out a Dark Knight review within the next day, but I don't think you need a review for me to tell you to go see it if you haven't.

Let's see..

2008-07-23T19:19:00.011-04:00

This is a spur of the moment thing that I am going to give a shot. I figure it could be fun to organize any interesting parts of my days into posts and hopefully some of those things will be interesting enough to read. I also want to start writing movie reviews and see where that goes, again just because it could be fun and would improve on my ability to express criticism through writing. This will probably end up going nowhere fast but it's worth a shot.

And thus, I leave you with the shirt I think I may purchase.