jotsheet

ack. another (pretty much) wasted day. i really haven’t accomplished much this break, and that bothers me a lot. a good chunk of my day was spent untangling the various DOMs for IE4/IE5/NS4/NS6/blahblahblah. i hate javascript, i really do. but anyway, to make me feel good, you MUST go over to the customize schemes page and view the fruits of my labor. what i’ve added is the ability to load the current styles into the form. first, this means that you can re-load any custom styles you’ve already defined and change them instead of retyping them. even better, though, is that you can work from an existing scheme (e.g. “sophomore”), load the current styles, and then change a particular aspect, such as the color of the links. yahoo.

Kent and Jason are here, and i look forward to spending some time with them this weekend. it’s really too bad i haven’t gotten much done this break. it pisses me off.

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so yesterday i hung out with Ben, first in Charleston and then in Champaign, and it was good times. we went to a Mexican place for dinner and decided that the “arr-oooooooooo” guy behind us was doing his best; after all, he was drinking a beer and reading the sports section, and Mexican food is pretty manly in the grand scheme of things. so yeah, he was doing ok, except for those pennyloafers and the white, knit turtleneck.

Ben then proceeded to take approximately 4.5 hours to get his stuff together for Boston/Evanston, since he packs like a woman, both in speed and quantity. it’s depressing, really, but he won’t change. you should see this kid get ready for a party. he spends at least 45 minutes primping in front of the mirror. anyway, we drove into Champaign and saw Blade 2 at the Savoy 16. mm, that was a real winner. Ben rightly pointed out that the directors evidently took it as a challenge to put EVERY SINGLE possible cliche in the movie. they succeeded.

we then got up at the crack of fuggin dawn today so Ben could catch the 6:10 a.m. train to Union Station. Amtrak is retarded. they posted their change of hours on a piece of paper with magic parker on it, not bothering to post the changes online. yeah, way to go. but he got on the train, and that’s all that matters. good luck with the girls at Smith, Benny Boy. quote some Gloria Steinem, and i bet the panties will start droppin.

SAT analogy question of the day:     Wesley Snipes : Acting :: Patrick Ewing : ?

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new book: How To Waste Time on Javascript’s 14 Goddamn Document Object Models, by Tom Sherman. coming in late 2002.

i finally had the chance to exercise a bit. with the hectic finals schedule, i didn’t have time in Evanston, and it was too damn cold here during the beginning of my break. but playing some basketball out in the driveway felt great. it’s so relaxing.

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the Oscars were a few nights ago, and i didn’t mention them, because i think any TV show wherein Hollywood pats itself on the back for 4.5 hours is certainly 4.5 hours that can be better spent by me. the only reason i mention the Oscars now, though, is it seems like a lot of people here in the good ol’ Midwest think the same way i do. they’re sick of Hollywood’s self-righteous lefties, and they just tuning out. Fox News clued me into it with this story.

something that is an endless sense of amusement (especially around girls) is urinal etiquette. guys instictively know what to do, and girls seem fascinated by (and completely ignorant of) this phenomenon. to illustrate, you should check out the ORIGINAL urinal game. (note: this is a Shockwave .EXE file, and i’ve scanned it for viruses with the latest version and definitions from McAfee, so you really don’t have to worry.) and for a similar, Web-based game about urinals, check about DrinkNation’s urinal test (thanks Jackie!).

also, along the same lines, Tony clued me into a great site for humor and time-wasting called claancy.net. i highly recommend Chris Rock’s “How to prevent police brutality.”

and last but certainly not least, i found this fabulous conservative weblog called Campus Nonsense, which is just gorgeous. go.

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i wanted to take some pics, but it’s cold outside, and in my infinite wisdom i didn’t bring my winter coat home for break. (yeah, that makes the ice storm we got last night doubly shitty). well, i decided to take some pics of my garage (haha), so you can check ‘em out if you’re bored.

if you’d like to know the exact type of music i love, fire up your favorite mp3 stealing app and download Cracker’s “Bring Us Down.” a sample:

God gave you life
So get out of mine
And take your sorry ass

Back to Florida

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having just seen the video for Dashboard Confessional’s “Screaming Infidelities” for the second time (remember the first time?), i would like to clarify my feelings about this song and about the genre of “emo” overall. up until this point, i think i’ve been a little unclear.

the music actually isn’t too bad. it’s decent. setting the wussy, high-pitched voices of the lead singers aside, i can deal with it. no, it’s the attitude — the unabashed, unbridled WUSSINESS that bothers me. that guy from Dashboard is like Dawson’s Creek meets Dick Vermeil (no, most of you won’t get that joke). but yeah, no wonder the chicks dig this crap; the guys are nicely coifed and unthreatening, and they croon incessantly about their “feelings.” it’s enough to make a red-blooded male sick to his stomach.

i’m a bitter young lad, aren’t i? heh heh heh.

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egh. finally got out of the house! been a long time coming, heh heh. i got a haircut (look!) and went to Borders, where i bought the hardcover edition of Bird Watching (an autobiography of Larry Bird) for $5 and O’Reilly’s Learning Perl for $8 (they were clearing out the 2nd edition). i also bought my mom a book profiling some “forgotten heroes” in American history. i hope she likes it.

have you seen Kylie Minogue? she looks like an alien that William Shatner would shag on the old Star Trek. blech.

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at least i was more productive today than yesterday. i even vacuumed the downstairs! heh heh. i really can’t be a lazy piece of crap for too long during break, otherwise i get bored and sullen.

i’ve been having a lot of “big thoughts” lately. it would be too hard to try to explain them here, but i’m questioning a lot of things. i don’t think anything external has prompted it, and that’s probably the way it should be. it’s just something i’m working on myself.

something that bothers me a LOT is when a person is arrogant about his/her intelligence. i have a special disdain for this type of arrogance, because intelligence is something that is COMPLETELY UNEARNED. (it should be noted that intelligence and knowledge are quite distinct, but arrogance about knowledge is little better.) if a guy is athletic, for example, at least he works out or plays sports and earns the label of “athletic” in some small way. intelligence is a gift, not a reason to brag. think about that.

for those of you planning a get-together, allow me to recommend Tom’s patented finger food. the ingredients:

• 1 rice cracker
• a bit of mozarella cheese
• some mesquite turkey
• a pecan on top

try it. it’s good.

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hot damn, i LOVE being a sports fan! it’s so much more fulfilling than, say, being into 17th century European literature. if i was one of those guys, i would punch myself in the mouth. so yeah, the Dukies lost last night to Indiana, who been reppin’ the Big Ten quite well. Arizona, with that whiny bitch of a coach Lute Olson and the son of the biggest whiner of them all (Bill Walton), got demolished by Oklahoma. Cinderella #1, Kent State, is into the Elite Eight, and Mizzou beat UCLA. overall, the Midwest is straight representin, and i think Illinois is gonna continue the trend against Kansas.

and a few more random links for ya. my sis told me about a little mistake those silly Brits made. yeah, evidently they accidentally invaded Spain. nicely done. and you might also be interested in an interesting pic of the world from space. it shows industrial vs. non-industrial in a startling way.

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damn.

Illinois played hard. they did. i’m not mad, just disappointed, and not as much so as after the LSU loss. Kansas and Illinois are basically even, but Kansas got a few breaks tonight. no one gave Illinois a shot to win the game, but they just about did. Billy Packer, take that, you fuck.

oh well. i love Illinois basketball. i really do — it’s a passion. a win energizes me and a loss deflates me in a manner that non-sports fans probably can’t understand, or just think is silly. well, too bad for them; they’re missing out. it was a great season. Illinois began the season with very high expectations (#1 and #2 in the national polls), dropped sharply following some bad losses, and clawed their way back with a gutsy run at the end of the season. their final loss was to probably the best team in the country, and you can’t be ashamed of that.

i’m going to miss this year’s team. Archibald was a total hoss tonight in his last game, and i’ll miss his scowl and his bullying behavior. i’ll miss watching Frankie break defenders’ ankles with spin moves, but i’ll get to see him in the NBA. Bradford always worked hard, and i admire that, and his stroke was sweet as honey. Krupalija was a stud on the boards. Johnson was the ultimate instigator.

the season had many special moments. the win over Minnesota with Frank’s last second drive and layup was soo sweet. i’ll remember the gritty win over Arkansas (and that piece of shit Nolan Richardson). i’ll remember the war we won against Mizzou. i’ll remember Luther Head’s thunderous alley-oop dunks against San Diego State. and i’ll remember the hard-fought loss against Kansas that ended the season.

i’m not sure how good next year’s team will be, but they have potential. Cook may win Player of the Year in the Big Ten. Luther Head is showing promise. if Nick Smith puts on some muscle, he will have success. and Dee Brown may make a big impact.

as for now, Go Hoosiers! (never thought i’d write that!)

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