Anyhoo, forgetting that I have back-to-back 2 hour lectures, I think my Mondays in first semester are going to be all right. I’m really looking forward to the software development course. Stuff like version control, SSH, build tools and vi (bonus! take that emacs!) are finally going to be covered. I’ve wanted to be an Ubuntu MOTU for quite a while now, and I feel that after this semester I can finally ease into the transition of becoming one. What else? Oh yeah, the CSC258 course is going to be pretty sweet. It has a pretty awesome prof, and it’s all about computer hardware, logic circuits, and other related stuff. In other words, a continuation of high school computer engineering. Fun.

Oh, and the other courses aren’t worth mentioning, so I won’t. Maybe it was me being tired that made me extremely drowsy in these classes, or maybe it was that it was well…for lack of a better word: boring. Ah well, it’s the first day of school. Can’t expect to much from a course on the first day.

But yeah, it’s a wonder I’m even still typing. I made a pact with one of my friends that we’d hit the haystack before midnight every school night. I wonder how long that will last, haha. 34 more minutes and I break that pact. God damn…

All in all, I’m going to be very busy this semester. Three math courses and three computer science courses are enough to drive any person insane. I’ve also restricted the amount of hobbies this semester. I’m going to actually have to try for once in my life. I look forward to seeing what I can accomplish when I actually give it my best.

Good night!

And even my good eye is slightly far sighted! The nice Vietnamese lady told me that there is no point in getting glasses now since I’ve made it this far in life without them. But eventually, I will need them. I told her that I wouldn’t mind wearing glasses, so she brought out a pair of experimental glasses. The kind that look like a big pair of evil robot eyes with removable lenses. Tried a few of the lenses on and found out that they actually helped. And they felt kinda relaxing for my eyes, as well. So I’ve decided that I will get glasses. I could do without them. Really, I could. I mean, my good eye is pulling the weight for both my eyes, but how long can he keep it up?

But yes. I really can’t read at all with my left eye. Even now, as I type this I’m covering my right eye and trying to read what’s on the screen. I can sorta make out the letters, but I wouldn’t be able to read them coherently. And it’s worse the more I move back. Meh, it looks like I’m going to be completing the geek stereotype once I get my glasses. Thank goodness I already went through the braces phase. Fear of the sun can’t be too far behind, though.

The biggest change has been to the blog categories. If you take a look to the right, you’ll notice that I’m not using a drop down box to maintain categories anymore. Instead, it’s an expandable menu now. Currently, there are 32 categories, including parent categories, and many more to be added as I increase the breadth of my postings. With that came a complete tagging of all my posts, and an updating of how titles were handled. So yes, from now on, everything will be much more organized.

Along with that update, a minor error was also fixed. When clicking “view previous posts” or something to that effect, a 404 was thrown. I have updated permalinks and changed around some of the page code so that it works like a charm now.

The next and final website update is the addition of random quotes! They’re right under the title. Currently there are 4 witty quotes from pretty famous people. The best part of all the quotes is that they make you think. Because, in my opinion if a quote doesn’t make you think, it’s a pretty useless quote. If you refresh the page a little, you’ll no doubt encounter them all.

All righty. Now onto my life. The biggest change, and the only one really, is that I’ve finally devoted myself to a martial art. I will be starting aikido in a few weeks. Currently, I’m strength training, and running a lot to get in better shape. I haven’t even started aikido yet, and my life has already taken a turn for the better. I have a daily routine now, and I feel great. I find that doing all of your training in the morning is a lot better than doing it later in the day. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the getting-it-over mentality I have while doing. Maybe. But I don’t do it because I think I have to. I do it because I enjoy it, and I really think it’s having a good impact on my life.

I wasn’t lying. That was the only update to my life. But I’d like to further digress on why I chose aikido over another martial art. I think the explanation is pretty interesting from my standpoint, but that’s just me. Ever since I was very little, I’ve always wanted to do something like karate. So this ambition to do some sort of martial art has been manifested in me since I was very small. But why aikido now? Well, almost like any Japanese martial art, there isn’t just a physical component, there is also a mental component. The mental aspect of aikido strongly appeals to me.

From wikipedia: Aikido is a Japanese martial art developed by Morihei Ueshiba as a synthesis of his martial studies, philosophy, and religious beliefs. The religious beliefs don’t apply to me, being an atheist and all. Not that O’Sensei (Morihei Ueshiba) had Christianity, Islam or Judaism in mind while creating aikido. The religious aspects were centered around ki/life force and extending love and compassion. Life force. The way I interpret this “life force” is as the spark of life. The willingness to live life. If the ki is weak, then your willingness to go on, and understand the things around you are low. However, if your ki is high, then the exact opposite is true, and you see beauty in living and in the things around you. You don’t really need ki for this interpretation, since one can live life like this anyway, but it certainly helps define what I believe the religious aspects to be. At least for me.

The philosophical side is even more interesting. Ueshiba’s goal was to create an art that practitioners could use to defend themselves while also protecting their attacker from injury. Which relates to the religious aspect, but this is a lot more practical. I don’t think I need to elaborate on the benefits of this, as any half-wit would be able to see them. But yes, this is why aikido seems so appealing to me.

I will not stop my training here, though. I intend to practice jujutsu and kenjutsu some time in the very near future. I want to be well versed in all of these arts.

Ah well, this post is getting long enough. I’ll see you all later. Take care.

Edit: After posting this, I realized that just a wikipedia link to aikido didn’t make me happy. So here is a video I just found that can help some people see what aikido looks like.

More specifically, Dell customer service. You see, a month back or so, my laptop screen decided it would never turn itself on again. The backlight was completely dead. I was told that the LCD fuse busted, but that didn’t make much sense to me, and the person telling me this wasn’t exactly a technician. Regardless, everything else worked on the laptop. I even brought an old monitor to act as an external (and main) display. Well, up until recently, I got tired of having a laptop whose screen was useless. So I called customer service, and arranged a date for them to a deliver a box in which I was to put my laptop and send it to them.

I can understand the need of sending a box. After all, if it gets damaged in the transportation, that would kinda suck. And this wasn’t really a normal box. It was so padded, you could have used it as a pillow. A very hard pillow, mind you, but a pillow nonetheless. After receiving the box, it lay in my room for about a week. Yeah, I wasn’t ready to part with my laptop just yet! Actually, I was just really lazy, and kept telling myself that I’d get around to it eventually. Well, this pissed Dell off. They kept calling for the box. Which was good. I needed incentive to send my laptop away finally. After about a week or so, and 4 or 5 calls later, I sent the box with my laptop inside, Tuesday morning.

Then yesterday, I get a Purolator notice that there was a package for me yesterday, but I wasn’t home to receive it, so they’re holding it until I come and pick it up. Which I did so today. Or yesterday, since it’s past midnight. I have been left with my jaw open. They replaced the bottom case (because it had a crack), and replaced my screen with a brand new one. Good thing I was under warranty, that would have cost me a fortune. But back to what I was saying. This was done in ONE day. ONE! I can’t believe it. To recap, I sent my laptop for repairs on Tuesday, I get it back on Thursday, and pick it up Friday. Dell customer service has always been good, but this good? I’m not too sure. I even checked to see if it was the same laptop, knowing that it was.

Maybe I got lucky, and it was the only laptop they had to service that day. Or maybe the queen herself intervened on my behalf. In either case, Dell has just made one customer very happy. A customer that looks forward to doing business in the future.

So, then how do I have the time to write this? Well, we’ve been having some crappy weather here in Toronto and I ended up leaving a bit too early for school. Needless to say, I arrived earlier too. So I have about half an hour to burn before my computer science lecture begins. Not bad. Anyways, I’ve got some exciting news.

First of all, the website is getting a complete revamp. There will be a slight name change, and a new permanent theme. Just a few more creases to iron out. I will also be posting that huge Python tutorial after this week. Hopefully I can get it submitted to some sort of tutorial portal, or something. I desperately need traffic, lol. I will also be upating the Projects section with something very cool. Basically, expect a crap load of new content once this week finishes.

I’ve got nothing else to say, really. Wish me luck with my tests.