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v2.20 [21 Feb 2002|03:57pm] [ mood | relaxed ] [ music | ]\[i]/[ - The Day The World Went Away (live) ] Version 2.20 of the D&D Character Survey is up. Blah, blah... you know I'm working on that instead of homework, and the details of the changes are on the page itself. ;-) 7 comments|post comment

Update! [19 Feb 2002|10:02pm] [ mood | sleepy ] [ music | ]\[i]/[ - Sin (live) ] Version 2.10 of the D&D; Character Survey is up and running. Major thanks go out to everybody that's giving me feedback, code fixes, and bug reports. You guys rock, and make everything I do all that much easier. 4 comments|post comment

Two Years... [19 Feb 2002|12:32pm] [ mood | relaxed ] [ music | TV - Bugs & Daffy ] Two years ago today, Paula and I first met. And what a time it's been since then... We've gotten engaged, and worked through all kinds of stuff, both good and bad, in both our lives. It certainly hasn't been smooth, but considering the fact that we're both extremely strong-willed people, that shouldn't really surprise anybody. We've gotten through it all because we love each other, completely and totally. And I'm sure that we'll keep doing just that... for many more years. =) In other news, today is a completely shitty day, weather-wise. It's been raining since very early this morning. On my way to class this morning, I noticed that the Boneyard Creek (which goes through the center of campus) was almost five feet over it's usual level. It was almost at flood stage... yipe! Needless to say, every spot on campus that doesn't have good drainage was completely choked with water. I'm very glad for my waterproof boots - I just tromped right along, and they're drying in the corner right now - but my feet stayed nice and dry. =) A lot of my friends have been having relationship problems lately. I feel really sorry for you - especially those of you whose names begin with "J" (you know who you are), and I wish I could do something more than just send electronic *hugs*. I'd give anything to be out on the east coast and able to spend some time with you and let you just unload. And, in some cases, beat the #$%! out of the bastards who are hurting you... So just know that I'm thinking about you, and that if there's anything I can do to help you out, let me know. post comment

*drum roll* [12 Feb 2002|09:22pm] [ mood | relaxed ] [ music | Prodigy - Mindfields ] I Am A: Chaotic Good Half-Elf Ranger Druid Alignment: Chaotic Good characters are independent types with a strong belief in the value of goodness. They have little use for governments and other forces of order, and will generally do their own things, without heed to such groups. Race: Half-Elves are a cross between a human and an elf. They are smaller, like their elven ancestors, but have a much shorter lifespan. They are sometimes looked down upon as half-breeds, but this is rare. They have both the curious drive of humans and the patience of elves. Primary Class: Rangers are the defenders of nature and the elements. They are in tune with the Earth, and work to keep it safe and healthy. Secondary Class: Druids are a special variety of Cleric who serves the Earth, and can call upon the power in the earth to accomplish their goals. They tend to be somewhat fanatical about defending natural settings. Find out What D&D; Character Are You?, courtesy of NeppyMan! Yes, Version 2.0 of the survey is finished. Check it out; it's cool. 8 comments|post comment

Another Tuesday [12 Feb 2002|08:42am] [ mood | sleepy ] [ music | Megadeth - Trust ] Work continues on the second version of my D&D; character survey. </plug> I'm working up a lot more questions, and also adding most/least preferable questions, to further fine-tune the results. I'm debating doing a text-graphical (bar graph) result table. Also, I'm definately implementing a secondary class preference. Neither, actually, will require much change to the code base. What I've got will work almost perfectly, in fact. In other news, one of my Linux-phile friends convinced me to give Mozilla a try. For those not familiar with it, it's an open-source build of the Netscape core, but with a lot of bugfixes and enhancements. So far, I'm very impressed. It has some features I really like (like tabbed browsing), and it seems to be much more stable than Netscape. Also, it's very easy to set up - and it will even import Netscape 4.5+ user profiles. =) I wish I had today off. It's Lincoln's birthday, and you'd think that students at the flagship university in the Land of Lincoln would have the day off of classes... but no. Bah. At least I've only got the one. post comment

Lunch break... [11 Feb 2002|01:07pm] [ mood | happy ] [ music | ]\[i]/[ - Terrible Lie (live) ] I happened across this today: http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,648024,00.html It absolutely blew my mind. Think about it... what could this mean for humanity? The article mentions feminists saying that there's no longer a need for men. This is something to think about... using current cloning technology, a potentially viable embryo could be created using a donated egg (woman required) and donated sperm (man required, but not after the initial donation). And, using this artificial womb, the embryo could be grown and possibly "born". This is un-fucking-believable. I (like many other people) am eagerly anticipating the second Star Wars movie - Attack of the Clones. Details are sketchy, but according to the books, the Clone Masters used similar technology to create massive armies. While we can't speed up the process, as they supposedly did, it's still possible - assuming you had the resources to provide for them - to clone thousands of people, and raise/indoctrinate them for 20 years, until they're fully-grown and ready to be the army of an evil empire. I'm not saying the technology would be used for this sort of thing. In fact, it will probably be used as a substitute for surrogate motherhood for woman who, for whatever reason, can't carry a baby to term. But the possibilities.... it's enough to simply stagger me. Hello, science fiction. Welcome to the future. In other news, Paula and I had a great weekend. =) Also, the new Nine Inch Nails album (And All That Could Have Been) freakin' rocks! There's nothing there I don't already have studio recordings of (it would have been nice to see Maybe Just Once or That's What I Get), but they do give us high-quality live recordings of some of their most popular songs. I would have liked to see Something I Can Never Have or The Fragile (two of my personal favorites), but the selection is still very good. Also, it's from all of their albums, not just the most recent. In fact, the majority of the songs are over 7 years old... I'm very impressed with this album and would highly recommend it to any NiN fan. =) 1 comment|post comment

Wow ... more wasted time. ;-) [06 Feb 2002|01:44pm] [ mood | happy ] [ music | ]\[i]/[ - Happiness in Slavery ] Which Carbonated Beverage Are You? post comment

*YAWNS* [06 Feb 2002|08:46am] [ mood | relaxed ] [ music | Mussorgsky - A Night on the Bare Mountain ] It doesn't seem to matter how much sleep I get - it's never quite enough. I was asleep by 11:30 last night, and didn't wake up until 7:30 this morning, but I was still tired and groggy. Of course, after a shower and breakfast, I'm now wide awake and ready to start the day. This doesn't mean that I wouldn't happily go back to sleep for another few hours if I had the opportunity, however... ;-) Ah, well. Another day of classes. Much energized from my work on the D&D; character survey yesterday, I'm working up another version of it. Same underlying code, but a more disguised (less obvious answers) survey, similar to that from Ultima 4-6 or Jagged Alliance 2, if you've seen those. As I was telling one of my friends last night, I had to do the HTML code at my computer, but I can work up the questions dur-... uh, between classes. =P 2 comments|post comment

This is only a test ... [05 Feb 2002|08:22pm] [ mood | bouncy ] [ music | Rush - The Spirit of Radio (live) ] I Am A: Chaotic Good Half-Elf Ranger Chaotic Good characters are independent types with a strong belief in the value of goodness. They have little use for governments and other forces of order, and will generally do their own things, without heed to such groups. Half-Elves are a cross between a human and an elf. They are smaller, like their elven ancestors, but have a much shorter lifespan. They are sometimes looked down upon as half-breeds, but this is rare. They have both the curious drive of humans and the patience of elves. Rangers are the defenders of nature and the elements. They are in tune with the Earth, and work to keep it safe and healthy. Find out What D&D; Character Are You?, courtesy of NeppyMan! Hey, guess what? I made this one myself! =D Take it yourself and tell me what you think! Tell your friends! Tell your friends to tell their friends! post comment

Another day ... [05 Feb 2002|08:56am] [ mood | sleepy ] [ music | Prodigy - Breathe ] ... and still no more dollars. Oh well. Time to leave for class, but before I do, the results of my morning web-surfing: You're loyal to your friends and family. You try not to let people know when you don't like them, because you try you best to treat everyone equally. You're not a leader, you tend to follow orders and respect those who tell you what to do. You're smart and a quick thinker. You take life as its handed to you, and try to make the best of it. You're constantly surrounded by friends and family, and you're a respectable person. (note: Do NOT try to take this test with Netscape... it doesn't seem to work properly!) post comment

Homework being done ... [04 Feb 2002|10:31pm] [ mood | relaxed ] [ music | TV - Tom & Jerry Show ] ... does not necessarily keep one from having time to kill. I took the What Mythological Creature Are you? test by peacefulchaos ! post comment

Still bored? [04 Feb 2002|02:45pm] [ mood | happy ] [ music | Rammstein - Rammstein ] I'm a Wind Spiriti post comment

It's Survey Time! [04 Feb 2002|01:59pm] [ mood | happy ] [ music | Frankie Bones - Electrostatic ] Not much to do between classes today, so I thought I'd make up a survey and see what came of it. (1) What name is on your birth certificate? Geoffrey David Ellingwood (2) What does everyone call you? Geoff (3) What should no one ever call you, besides late for dinner? Geoffy. Also, calling me late for breakfast or lunch isn't a good idea, either. (4) Speaking of dinner, what's your ideal one? Depends on who's cooking. If it's my mom, her meatloaf, combined with mashed potatoes and fresh corn on the cob. If I'm on kitchen duty, it really depends on what I'm in the mood for. If it's breakfast-for-dinner, pancakes and bacon are the meal of choice. If it's Italian, probably spaghetti with home-made sauce and garlic bread. If it's a "fancy" dinner, I might fix chicken cordon bleu with a freshly tossed salad, or (if I can get a good recipie!) fettucine alfredo with a nice wine to top it off. Oh, and something heavy for dessert - preferably cheesecake, although a parfait would do in a pinch. (5) Now that you're hungry from answering that question, were you to reach for a snack, what would it be? Pretzels (preferably Rold Gold Fat Free) or an apple. If I'm feeling decadent, hard candy - especially butter rum. (6) No snack is complete without a drink. Non-alcoholic, first - what's your preference? A&W; Sparkling Vanilla cream soda. Period. But I'm also fond of Barq's root beer, Mt. Dew, assorted coffees (raspberry mocha... yum!), and various fruit juices, especially kiwi-strawberry. (7) Okay, now for the alcoholic drink? Tough call. It depends on what I'm in the mood for and what's available. I love mudslides, but I'm not always in the mood for them. I also like Irish Coffee, Sex on the Beach, Vanilla Coke, White Russians, just about anything with Jack Daniel's, and the occasional fruit wine. I usually steer clear of beer, except for Guiness. I've been told I'd like Killian's and Sam Adams, but I've never got around to trying them. Also, I want to give Bass Ale a shot at some point. (8) Switch gears. What's your favorite kind of music? You name it. I like just about everything except (most) rap and (all) country. I'm especially fond of Nine Inch Nails, but I'll listen to any band that has musical talent. And that doesn't include cheesy pop bands that don't write their own music, don't coreograph their own dance moves, and don't do anything but look "cool" - whatever that might be. (9) Prove it. What's in your CD player right now? Um... that would have to be a computer game. I don't usually use my CD player for playing CDs. I rip my CDs to MP3 and listen to them that way. Currently, WinAmp is playing Tori Amos's "Crucify". (10) Do you like any bands that might qualify as a "guilty pleasure"? Not really, although I've been known to crank up Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back" on occasion. ;-) (11) All right. How about TV shows? What do you watch? Not much. I love DBZ, but it's on repeats now, so I'm kind of letting it pass. I also like ReBoot, but Toonami has yet to pick it back up after they ran Season 4 - if they do, I'll start watching it again. I also watch Adult Swim, mainly for the Brak Show and Space Ghost: Coast to Coast. Yes, I pretty much watch Cartoon Network if the TV's on. ;-P (12) Movies? Favorites? Categories? My favorite movies remain the Star Wars series. I'm also fond of Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings. I like any action/adventure flick with a decent plot (Heat counts, big time, but something like Rambo falls pitifully short), and I also like comedies (Spaceballs, Monty Python and the Holy Grail), sci-fi (5th Element, Gattaca), and anything else that particularly grabs my attention. (13) All right, now the power's out. Grab a book and read it by candlelight. What is it? Depends on what I can get my hands on. I loved the Harry Potter books, but I don't own any of them yet. I have a well-loved (read: used) copy of Lord of the Rings, but it won't last more than a few more readings, so I'm glad Paula has a copy. ;-) I've also got a bunch of F/SF short story collections sitting around, and I've always been fond of that mode. (14) Any guilty pleasures, as far as books are concerned? Um... Anne Rice's Beauty series... does that count? ;-) Also, I like a lot of Stephen King's work. (15) Do you have any stuffed animals? Lots! I've got a big Pikachu on my computer, a cat on my monitor, a couple of assorted bears, bunnies, &c.; laying around the room, and a Tigger up on the bookshelf. (16) How about posters? Yup. Lord of the Rings promo poster, H.P. Lovecraft ink drawing (thanks, Paula and Nicole!), and the big dragon tapestry on my back wall (thanks, Debbie!). (17) Any board (not bored) games sitting around your room or den? Star Wars Episode 1 Monopoly and Risk. I'd like to get a chess set at some point, although I think Paula's got one. (18) Other toys? A bunch of Star Wars toys, including Slave I hanging from the lights. Matrix figures. Star Wars Legos. Assorted Star Wars weaponry (Vader's saber, Maul's saber, blaster rifle, bowcaster). Assorted other things sitting around the room that I can't see from here. (19) Speaking of toys, you must be typing this at a computer. Who does it belong to? Me, of course. =) (20) If it's yours, have you done anything to spif it up or tweak it? If it's not, have you done any of that, anyway? Um.. you all should know me by now. Duh! This thing's tweaked to all hell, plus there's a little Micro Machines Yoda perched on the monitor, for power, and a giant Pikachu on the tower for extra stability (and real power, in lieu of a UPS)... ;-) (21) What resolution do you run your desktop at? 1280x1024. Break out the magnifying glass, baby! (22) What's currently running on the computer? 4 IRC clients (2 channel bots, 1 serving bot, and my main script), my anti-virus scanner (F-Prot), Seti@Home, GetRight, BlackIce Defender, The Weather Channel's Desktop Weather, AIM, WinAmp, and the Live Journal client. All at once. =) (23) Now, about what's under the computer... what are you currently wearing? Blue jeans, a forest green shirt, wool socks, and sandals. (24) Boxers or briefs? I'll go with answer (c) - none of the above, Alex. (25) What's the most fancy get-up you've ever put on? Tux, for my senior prom. Unfortunately, it was June 11th, and hotter than a sauna, so I sweated off a good 10 pounds. (26) And the most casual? Shorts (and not much else) for a lazy Saturday. (27) What is your favorite piece of clothing? My "All Your Dice Are Belong To Us" Dork Tower t-shirt. Although I'm particularly proud of my Philmont Staff belt and my Gilman school tie. (28) So what do you do to make money? Money? What's that? Oh, right... I need to get a real job... (29) And what do you usually do with that money? Well, I would have to have some first. If I did, I'd probably invest a good bit of it, live frugally, and buy nice things every once in a while. (30) And if you had $1 billion, tax-free, what would you do with it? Invest it in mutual funds and live off the interest for the rest of my life. =P (31) All right. Take this test, and tell me which Star Wars character you come up as. Lando Calrissian (32) And now, take this test, and let's find out which member of the Fellowship of the Ring you would be: Legolas (33) And just how much time did you waste taking this survey? About an hour, but I was making it up as I went, so it's probably a bit long. post comment

Mondays Suck [04 Feb 2002|12:57pm] [ mood | happy ] [ music | Underworld - Cowgirl ] I still agree with Garfield on that note, and with his opinions on lasagna, too. ;-) Even so, it wasn't too bad waking up this morning. After all, I got to watch a FREAKIN' AWESOME Super Bowl last night! Woo hoo! I haven't watched a football game that well-played (or that close) in a long time, and it was a special treat after the pitiful showings in the college bowl games over winter break. *cough Illini cough* I'm starting to formulate plans for Valentine's Day, but nothing specific yet. Other than that, my routine lately has been large amounts of homework. Nothing seriously difficult, but plenty of it. Thankfully, that should help me be ready for all the midterms that are slowly creeping up on me. Oh well... life, as they say, goes on... post comment

Another week... [22 Jan 2002|12:27pm] [ mood | relaxed ] [ music | Crystal Method - Sensation (Phase 4 Vinyl Mix) ] And another lazy day. Tuesdays (until Physics starts) are over and done with by 11. Thursdays are always done by 11. So I'm home, killing time. Here's something to do if you're killing time: Find out how well you know me. post comment

It's Been a While... [20 Jan 2002|08:35pm] [ mood | relaxed ] [ music | TV - Toonheads ] Oh well. Winter Break was nice, but too long, and I missed Paula something fierce. I'm back to school now, and am in the process of relaxing after a full week of classes, which I was NOT really ready for. I'll get back in the swing of things soon enough, and I've still got another day of the weekend to enjoy. *grins* Not much else going on right now. Wedding got pushed back to August 31st, but even that's still tenative - Paula and I are both going to be busy this semester, and we reserve the right to change things as needed. ;-) post comment

Ut-oh... [09 Dec 2001|07:57pm] [ mood | relaxed ] [ music | TV - Justice League ] *cue dramatic music* And here come the finals. It's going to be an odd week for me, mainly because my finals are at the very beginning and end of the week, and I've got a few days with absolutely nothing to do sandwiched there in the middle. I'm not worried about any of my finals, but I am going to have to study for them. Even I can't take this kind of stuff lightly... ;-) In other news, I had another great weekend with Paula. Also, she and I visited Liz and Margo (and Vern) for dinner on Saturday night, which was great, and I won the Harry Potter Trivia Game... =) Don't expect much from me this week. If I'm not studying, I'm probably playing games to distract myself from the looming finals. post comment

Time for the last gasp... *GASP* [06 Dec 2001|07:34pm] [ mood | relaxed ] [ music | TV - PowerPuff Girls ] Take the What Cat Are You? test by webkin! I've had enough of classes, and I'm just going to ditch the last day tomorrow, and relax. I've got five finals next week, and I'm going to relax this weekend, to prepare myself for the whole finals thing. Paula is coming down for the weekend; I'll make sure to relax her (and myself). We should have fun. Not much else going on. Paula and I had to cancel our road trip, because we're too broke. On a better note, we're starting to look at apartments (duplexes, actually), and the prices we're seeing are really good. =) My brain is fried; I gave a Geolgoy presentation today, which went really well, but I don't have the mental energy to do much else right now. 1 comment|post comment

Back from Thanksgiving... [25 Nov 2001|08:48pm] [ mood | relaxed ] [ music | TV - Toonheads ] And I had a great time. I spent a week with my parents, and - surprisingly enough - everything went really well. No fights, or anything that often pops up when I go home to visit, so I'm really happy. Seems like they're finally treating me like an adult, and I'm glad for it. On the other hand, my parents are having their own problems - namely, my grandmother. My grandfather passed away at the end of the summer this year, after a long fight with cancer, leaving my grandmother alone. She's in fair physical health, but her short-term memory is almost completely gone, which makes life difficult for her. My parents convinced her to move to a retirement community in Atlanta (she and my grandfather were living in Woodstock, in IL), and she's getting settled in there. It's not easy, though, and because she can't remember what she did fifteen minutes (or fifteen days) ago, she really is very confused. She knows that she forgets things, and that's probably the worst part. She's extremely lonely, and my mother has been spending a lot of time taking care of her - including living with her in Woodstock for a couple of months while my father took care of finding the place in Atlanta. Needless to say, that was tough on both of them, and it hasn't really gotten easier, although just about everything is straightened out, paperwork-wise. I hope they can keep everything together; this has been really rough on my mother, and she's starting to show signs of depression - something I know all too well, because I've been there, myself. In other news, the next few weeks are going to be very busy for me. I've got end-of-year projects and papers to do, plus the usual amount of work, and finals are looming on the horizon (they start two weeks from tomorrow). So for all my friends who read this - don't be surprised if I'm not around much, either studying or taking breaks from it And if I am around, be patient with me, because this is likely to be rather stressful for me. Paula and I are still trying to hammer out plans for Christmas Break. We're trying to get down to Atlanta to see my parents, and also visit other friends of ours around the country (namely Jenn in Charleston, SC, Johnny up in Chicago, and - possibly - Ellen in Baltimore), plus spending some time with Paula's mother. So far, we're having trouble lining everything up, but it should get fixed - eventually. ;-) For now, I'm in my room, watching TV, and planning out the week. Nothing serious on my plate, but I'm going to be doing lots of homework. Johnny is supposed to be coming down on Saturday, and hopefully he, Paula, and myself can enjoy ourselves. I'm also going to be picking up a learner's permit, so I get to start driving - finally. (Yeah, I know - I'm 22, it's about freakin' time - now shut up =P ) Paula should make it back to Macomb soon, and she and I are going to work on Christmas Break plans, and also work on wedding stuff. =) post comment

Week.. almost... over! [15 Nov 2001|08:58am] [ mood | relaxed ] [ music | Orbital - Halcyon (live) ] And it turns out that I don't have a math homework assignment due tomorrow - I've got a midterm. Good thing I've been keeping up with that class, eh? A quick review tonight, and I should be good to go. And then, a full week to relax and enjoy myself a bit. Paula and I are planning to go on a date (our first real one, actually!) on Friday (or Saturday, depending on when she gets down here), and go see Harry Potter together. Everything I've heard about it says that it's an awesome movie, and I like that kind of thing, anyway, so it should be a lot of fun. Plus, it's opening night, and we're in a relatively small town, so we'll get to see it early, and not have to stand in line for hours (I hope). Although I'm still planning to get to the theatre well in advance, just in case... ;-) I think that Mother Nature heard my complaints earlier about the lack of fall, and decided to be ironic. (People familar with my Super Powers shouldn't be surprised by this...) It's supposed to be 70 today, and I'm wearing shorts, because I got too hot yesterday in long pants, and had to change. It really shouldn't be doing this in the middle of November, but I can't say that I'm complaining. As much as I like winter, I also love weather like this - 70 and sunny. =) Now, I've got a handful of classes today that I need to go to. So I'm going to go do that, and I've got an idea for a survey tonight. post comment

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