Migration

Good news on the bumper front. When I called the cops, they said that this wasn't a hit and run, and that the person who exchanged information, etc. w/the police. Cool beans. I don't even have to drag Geico into this.

Great, my car is now minus a working rear bumper, thanks to some hit and run shit-guzzling fucktard who nailed my car sometime this weekend while it was parked in the Cary north lot. Message on my voicemail from the police as of 4:30pm, I find out 20 minutes ago.
The weekend from hell just turned into the shitiest weekend from hell. Sigh.

Take the High Yield Killing Method Test Now!!

Hi Dave.


Which "Saved By The Bell" Character Are You?

Score.

You are Perl. Congratulations. You're chic and easy going. You can't do everything but you're good at connecting with others to gelp you overcome this.

What programming language are you??

Some suggestions based on my personal techo favorites:
Favorite CD-side: tracks 1-11 of Play by Moby
Favorite single CD: the green album by Orbital
Favorite 2-CD set: Ibiza: The Year of Trance
Most brilliant track: tie between "I Wish I Had Duck Feet" off of Orbital's Snivilisation and the Kuraymino Variation of "Clubbed to Death" by Rob Dougan
Favorite live mix: Paul Oakenfold in Havana, 2/21/99, Part I
Favorite ambient CD: Delerium's Karma
Best CD series: Global Underground
Favorite old-school techo artist: The Orb

Probably the most obscure or least thought-of from the above selections is "I Wish I Had Duck Feet." Honestly, I think its the best techno I've ever heard, but I'm sure most would mention some other work. The track after it on Snivilisation, "Sad But True" is also quite incredible. Thoughts anyone?

Write a final report on how to quiet a Bosch table saw by 6dB; modfications are still in the design phase.
Debug an algorithim to beat experienced human players at the Yali board game and five other teams' competing algorithms. We're currently in 3rd place.
Debug the database frontend and secure the backend server for Tippecanoe County Probation Department.
Implement and debug UFS-like filesystem and OS-physical disk I/O with ownership metadata on top of DLXOS from scratch.

Everything is due in five days.
NO FEAR

Question of the day:
Who left the half gallon of Prairie Farms 2% by my door while I wasn't looking?

Speaking of my door, my name is on it now. "C. F. ZIMMERMAN/ ECE '02" Word. Kinda wish they spelled out my first name, but I can't have everything in life. :-P

The good midwestern weather streak continues. Seems like everyone is in a good mood since it is in the 70s and sunny all of a sudden. Or maybe its because I know so many people who are graduating. Or maybe its because most women are averaging about .7 layers of clothing. (Insert shit eating grin here.)

Let me clarify on that last bit: you can thank (former) senators Bayh and Dole for transforming American higher-education into profit-making extensions of the American corporate juggernaut, under the Bayh-Dole Act (35 USC 200-212) of 1980.

On a continuing note of good news, I am (ironicly) pleased to report that the Tippecanoe Adult Probation Department is now using SQL Server to host their active client database. Most of you are probably wondering why in god's name I am pleased that anyone would be using a Microsoft product. There are a couple of reasons:
1. MS is bed with most of American higher education. Purdue, and thus Purdue's EPICS program is no exception. Thus we have to use MS software.
2. It was free anyhow.
3. I wouldn't possibly expect a bunch of probation officers to muck around with Linux.
4. We found out the county had extra licenses of Oracle to spare a week before SQL deployment. After finding out about that one, I summed things up in a gigantic "oh well."

So, in a fit of making up for such criminal acts, and to spite the assholes who think universities should turn a profit, JDS GPLed the database design. If Purdue thinks its going to make money off of a community service project, they've got another thing coming.

Such expenditures are not without their rewards, however. In this year's Purdue All-Campus Photo Contest, I won 1st place in Animals, tied for 2nd in Animals, won 3rd place in Portrait/Glamour, and got an honorable mention in Landscape.
On a related note, I was pleased to see the new set of officers managed to pull in 197 entries in all, up from 100 last year. What can I say, two Liberal Arts majors and a part-time physics TA have more collective time on thier hands than a junior in ECE. Not that I'm making any comparisons.

Sigh. You know its bad when you drop as much for a sliver of glass that screws on the front of a lens, as some people do for the lens itself.
Screw graduation countdowns. I should have a countdown to my first paycheck.

"The condom is the glass slipper of our generation. You slip it on, dance the night away with a stranger, and then throw it away - the condom, that is, not the stranger."
--Marla Singer, Fight Club

Rumors of my demise are greatly exagurated.

Funny, my clock applet says its Tuesday, yet, as far as my body knows, its still Saturday.

Excuse me while I collapse into a 16 hour stretch of unconciousness.

Instead of drinking my life's problems away, I fixed them. Sure, I killed the bug and there was much rejoycing; then again, I got home from the would-be final deploy onsite at 10:30pm with no success. I hate how Microsoft's software doesn't work for shit unless you buy everything else they produce.

I have decided that the only solution to the longest standing, most elusive bug my EPICS team has ever faced is alcohol. Did I mention it was a bug resulting from a subtle problem buried deep within system files that ship with on only certain versions of Windows, preventing new records from being added to our database? How about the fact that it's now holding up our new server deploys? It would take so long to rehash, I won't bother explaining. I've poured over 150 hours into this bug, just on my own. My deep seated hatred for Microsoft has grown even deeper.

I am so getting plastered.

Dude, its April. I graduate in like, 5 weeks. Holy shit.

"Just... try to relax." -- Gutter

A few thoughts of varying seriousness:

So the machine my EPICS team is about to deploy onsite was cracked via a common Windows 2000 Server exploit. Exercising my MITREesqe skills in tracking down what happened wasn't hard, though I probably should have made sure the thing was locked down in the first place. Sigh. At least we discovered the problem before the test deploy at 2pm today.
Note to self: deinstall IIS after the reformat/reinstall.

I *was* going to go to a rave on Saturday, but it was canceled. The promoters were complaining about how these events aren't profitable in this area or something. Only if you're stupid enough to hold a rave during spring break and end it because somebody ODed on X. For a consolation prize, I'm going to see Sasha in less than three weeks. Whee.

It occured to me that by the time I'm Yellowstone bound with my mom in June, I will have spent nearly $1k on photo gear. Sure, the 18-35mm lens to replace my currently fscked up 24-120 is $500. Not a huge deal. Now add a polarizing filter, and 60 rolls of kickass slide film. And shipping. Oops.

Its nice when a good friend drives five hours round trip to pick up a cable and take you to lunch. Don't let go of people who are that important.

From here to my first pay check, sometime in mid June... let's hear it for credit card debt. Sigh.

Coming soon to a website near you: Carson's entries for the 2002 Purdue All Campus Photo Contest. Funny, nearly all of them are on slide this year.

So ah, yeah, how about that spring break, huh?

Teehee, and that's just one of the "you were there" shots. The good stuff is yet to come :-).

This sickness is compliments of Richard. Tehe.

You know its bad when you're psyched about 7.5oz of warmed up Chef Boyardee Lasagna and 16oz of Ben and Jerry's Mint Chocolate Cookie because its the best you've eaten in two weeks.

One last thing before I go back to wading (albeit only waste deep) through 3000 lines of C...

Listen to Tori's version of "Enjoy the Silence," originially by Depeche Mode.

Then listen to it again.

I want to elaborate, but I don't really know what to say.
Enjoy the silence.

You're all probably a little confused, so let me clairify a few things.
- Edward is my half-brother through my dad, and is in his mid 30s. He and Becky both used to live in Arizona. Becky got the house, Edward moved to Chicago, a major hub for United, the airline he works for.
- Becky had a pretty big part in my upbringing, and it is as though she is still a member of the family, even after the divorce. If anything, Edward is the one out of the loop because he's rubbed a few people the wrong way in the wake of the breakup, but it could be a lot worse I suppose.
- Becky lives in Mesa, AZ, about 10 minutes from her parents, as well as her sister Melissa.
- The trip to Grand Canyon with Sara happened because both of us wanted to go while in AZ, but we didn't have someone to go with for whatever reason, so it was like "hey, problem solved."

Oh, right, that wasn't very short. Well it took me less time to type than full blow prose, and it took you less time to read, no?

Okay, well, I was planning on post this huge ass blog about spring break and recent happenings, but I haven't had time because my professors are jerks, in short.

The bad news first:
Catherine and I spoke (typed actually) a couple days ago for about 4 hours, which will probably be our last conversation until June. The short explaination is that we're not ready to be just friends and that we don't want to lose one another's companionship in the long run.
I look back on the relationship with fond memories of what time we did have together, and some understanding of what drew us apart in the end.
What drew us apart had more to do with issues each of us have, and less to do with us as a couple. She isn't a bitch and I'm not an asshole. We just have our own problems, as does everyone. I hope we can both begin to fix those problems. Oh yeah, that's what they call growing up.
Unloading built up animosity is so hard, though. Its funny how how screwed up the people I know really well and I are, even though we are so lucky in life. I wonder how resilient the human psyche is, considering what most people endur in one lifetime?
How can anyone expect to have healthy relationships until they've sorted themselves out first? I'm willing to bet most people die before they understand what has fucked them up in life? I'm sorry, you were saying something about divorce rates? Oh, wait...

Any rate, we ened the conversation on a positive note. I miss her already, but its going to be a while before we can be friends.
Breaking up is hard. Becoming a better person is infinitely harder.

Here's the short version of my spring break:
- Arizona was warm.
- Except at Grand Canyon, which I visited for one day.
- With a blonde junior comm major from Northern Illionis University, by the name of Sara.
- We randomly met on the plane from Chicago to Phoenix.
- No, nothing happened. :-P
- My brother, Edward, had to cancel for the portion of the vacation that I was going to spend with him because his mom is not doing well medicly.
- I spent the entire break with my ex-sister-in-law, Becky, and her family.
- Yes, they recently got divorsed, and are still on speaking terms. We all still kinda consider things as family.
- Some of it was spent with her sister, Melissa, who in her mid 30s, after having a kid, could pass for a very attractive 24 year-old.
- The running joke: "This is my half-brother's ex-wive's sister, Melissa. What does that make us? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING."
- Out of the 20 pack of Velvia I bought, I only shot 5 rolls. They're getting developed tomorrow.
- It's alright, becuase the other 15 will get shot somewhere in Montana, Utah, Colorado, or New Mexico, along with another 30 or so rolls of slide after I graduate and before June 10.
- Oh yeah, Becky's family rules. All very funny and very nice.

In other news:
- I have my offer of employment from MITRE in writing, with the magic number and benefits. Er, well, not so much an offer as "On June 10, we're changing you to full time engineering staff. You will be earning so and so. Show up here for the shpeal on benefits at this time." Uh, okay... twist my arm will you ;-)
- I'm fighting off senioritis something bad. This is difficult considering I can't affort to slack off less I risk my cumulative GPA dip below the magic 3.0. And there's no way I can maintain any sense of pride with a 2.anything.
- The rave I went to on Sat. was cool.
- Or at least until 2:30 when it got shut down in the middle of DJ Micro's set because (drumroll) somebody was doing drugs. Or said the tool that got on the PA after the lights turned on. The ravers in attendance were... displeased, as was I. What a crock.
- I was one of many with lights, though I doubt many had so many people like "hey, where'd you get those." Props to Catherine for the useful and cool Xmas gift.
- My entries in this year's photo contest may span all 7 categories. Whee, I'm branching out into diff. areas of photography.
- I also now have my second EPICS award in writing. Too bad I won't see the cash until the summer.
- Let's hear it for end of senior year credit card debt. Oh wait, no.

Dammit, no one will rave with me. :-P

OMFG, I am so sore from sledding on Tuesday. I'm getting old...

Angela: "Because you're my friend"
Ricky: "She's not your friend. She's someone you use to feel better about yourself."
Angela: "Go fuck yourself, psycho!"
Jane: "Hey, shut up, bitch!"
Angela: "Jane, he's a freak!"
Jane: "Well, then so am I! We'll always be freaks, and we'll never be like other people! And you'll never be a freak 'cause you're just... too perfect!"
Angela: "Yeah, well, at least I'm not ugly."
Ricky: "Yes, you are. And you're boring, and you're totally ordinary, and you know it."

Dave informs me that the snow penis tradition extends back another 2 years before my time, so we have infered that said tradition must extend further than that.
Furthermore, this year there were multiple snow penises out in front of Cary. Being the smart engineers that we are at Cary, they used step ladders to get the phalic obelisks up to 10 feet.

Slayter hill was packed. It was a perfect mix of powdery snow and ice. I was getting 8 feet altitude and about 30 feet downrange travel off a decent jump. I shit you not, it was incredible.
Some people were going so fast that they went across the road at the bottom.
Ah Slayter, the mother of all sledding hills. Good for watching drunk frat boys wipe out at the bottom too. :-)

High:
Me and my sled. Hearing MITRE quote me a big number.

Low:
The bottom of the hill.

For everyone (including me) who fills out those damn online quizzes and then posts them to their blog or lj, Richard has this for you.

So I got the official call from MITRE. I said yes. During the course of our conversation, there was a certain number mentioned.
CHA CHING BABY, YEAH!
Oh yeah. I'm happy.

It is my privledge to announce the fourth annual Cary Snow Penis. FWIW, this year I did not have a part in its construction.
Ah, life at the Quad...

Dude, Sasha's coming to Indy. Kickass.

If you thought DVD encryption was bullshit, take a gander at how you're being screwed yet again.

I defer to Amy, who has sent me to a most brilliant link, which I will repeat here.
This site will change your life, almost as much as All Your Base or Hampster Dance did.

I FUCKING HATE REPUBLICANS! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK IS GOING TO HAPPEN WHEN YOU KILL THE CAR TAX IN VIRGINIA, HUH? THAT'S RIGHT, run up a deficit and then figure out that you have to tax elsewhere. Virginia, you got what you deserved.
hrmpf...

"You go get your geek. Some day I will find mine." --Nadia, American Pie 2

Only when I'm not looking for one, I think. I should stop looking for my geek, so one day I can find her.

Go here.

High:
MITRE called. I have the kind of great, high paying job I've been dreaming of for years.

Low:
After 6 months and 10 days, its over. And its basically my fault.

Plane tickets have been purchased. I shall be Arizona-side from March 9 to March 16. Woohoo.

So I'm always complaining that I have zero female friends at Purdue. Alas, I finally find one. The ironic part is that she's a EE and a member of Camera Club. Who fucking knew?

In other news, JDS recieved another form of recognition. We've been selected as one of four teams to represent EPICS in some big poster contest/presentation thingy. With the combined communication, page layout, graphic art, techincal, and web design skills of a few members of the team (including myself), we've got a shot at first prize, with a $200 award to boot. Let's see if we can win this thing...

Rave on the 2nd of March. Must find Rav'n light #2 and vinyl pants. The question is: shiny primary red PVC or shiny black PVC? For those of you who think I'm kidding, well, I'm not. :-)

Happy singles awareness day!

That was possibly one of the higher points of my day. Sigh.

Outstanding...


Ewwwww. I am sooooo not Jesus. All I are is a mock-savior, a wannabe-Jesus. I don't even know why I bothered taking this test. I am quite possibly a homosexual... or Jewish.
Take the What Jesus Would You Be? Quiz

High:
For practically the first time ever, I won an award. EPICS gives out awards to three students every semester who do a really awesome job as part of the program. Its called the Corcoran Award, and there's a small cash bonus to go with it. My award is "For Outstanding Leadership and Dedication to Delivering an Effective Solution for the Project Parner." I was a little surprised when they told me I won it, but ecstatic none the less.

Low:
Over winter break, two separate divisions of MITRE expressed interest in hiring me, and both sent job offer paperwork into HR. Two weeks ago HR called me to ask if I had preference of one position over the other, so they could finalize the offer and send it out to me. So I chose. I expected to hear back from them last week with the actual offer. No calls.
So this morning, I call. The position I chose had disappeared as a result of end-of-year DoD budget negotiations. The head of the other department is like "so why did you choose those other guys?"
I'd be handing out resumes at the annual Intern Expo if I didn't have a project to turn in at midnight. Needless to say, I could be totally fucked.

Here we go again...




Which John Cusack Are You?

Well, I'm back on solid foods, which is always a bonus. Being sick isn't fun.


In unrelated news, there are now two vehicles in the 2 year, knock-down, drag-out fight of a campaign to be the first newly purchased Carsonmobile. The candidates?
1. Acura RSX tiptronic Type S
2. Toyota Matrix XRS
I welcome suggestions from anyone- you can probably see where I'm headed here. I don't drive stick... yet. Getting a quasimatic will probably make the most sense. Vehicles under 130hp, over 240hp, SUVs, and corn-burners need not apply. Oh yeah, it better come in a nice shade of blue. I can dream, can't I?
Of course, this all depends on my having a stable job with a company such as MITRE, though I'm expecting a call any day now. ;-)

Ah yes, did I mention I will be touring the American west by car with my mom for a couple weeks right after I graduate? Imagine me+Yellowstone+1000 ft. of film. That's something to look forward to. :-)