17:42:39 Monday March 01 2004
I missed a few entries. Saturday was a good day. I got plenty of sleep, and then in the evening we celebrated Chris's 20th/5th birthday. There was much Mario Kart, Settlers of Catan, and honey mead.

On Sunday I had to awaken at a sensible hour to drive to Anderson to visit my parental units. Apparently they were having computer problems, "And besides", they said "we haven't seen you since Christmas." So I played technical support for them. Many members of my family believe that I am up here learning how to defragment hard drives and things. My father the engineer is a notable exception. He graduated with too many electrical engineers who could not wire a house to believe that I am learning how to configure a Windows box. As it turned out they had 19 viri mostly copies of myDoom.A myDoom.B and doomjuice.b. I ran the stinger and presto changeo things worked again. So I hung out with the family for a while. It was nice, but felt somewhat alien. I have problems context switching between different versions of myself that I present to different people. My grandparents, and my aunt called while we were eating dinner. April is down in Florida right now with the grandparents, so it was something of a family reunion.

In her phone call my aunt mentioned that her computer was having problems booting. So on the way back to Lafayette I stopped in Tipton and fixed things for her.

While at home I discovered that my parent's dog has suddenly been struck blind. She is probably the most pathetic creature in the world, because despite being blind she continues to have plenty of energy and runs about the house crashing into things. She doesn't seem to be learning either. She will bump into something and back up and run into it again. While I was there I don't think she even recognized me by scent. I suspect the time to put her down will come soon.

After returning from Anderson I went straight to work and completed my writeup for 590d, as well as some odds and ends. By the time I finished it was after 05:00

I awoke today and went to a meeting with my 590d group. I had lunch with Lehmann and did some work but I quickly realized that my brain was not up to the task. So I have returned to my domicile for a four hour nap before I get up and prepare notes for class.

00:48:34 Wednesday March 03 2004
I forgot to mention that yesterday I discovered a copy of Donnie Darko in my campus mail box. Josette sent it to me. I am not completely sure why. Apparently it had some negative association for her, but I am glad to have it. I need to remember to extend my sincerest thanks to her tomorrow.

Apparently Wanke was arrested for DUI last night. John sent me an email after he got a ride home from the cops. Why are my friends such idiots? How hard is it to walk? The sympathy meter reads zero on this one.

The Demon-Haunted World is greatly improving. From the first two chapters I thought it would be the same complaints all skeptics have echoed over and over again. However, as I move on each chapter seems to be getting meatier than the last.

I am trying to think of a way to test audiophiles who believe they can hear the difference between 256kbps mp3s and CD quality audio remotely. I have a reasonable protocol dreamed up, but the only issue is that a spectrograph would probably give me away directly. I will have to process on this for a while.

These three hour naps I have been taking every 12 hours or so kind of remind me of the uberman sleep schedule. Occasionally I toy with the idea of trying it out in earnest. Probably a bad idea because my groups and professors meet at odd hours. I wouldn't be able to keep the small naps regular.

06:06:16 Thursday March 04 2004
I got up feeling rather well. I got a good night's sleep. It is strange to have serotonin in my brain again. There has been an odd diffuse chest pain all day. Somewhat odd, but I suspect that it is just some stomach acid dissolving my esophagus. Nothing to worry about.

I learn very well on a head full of serotonin, my only problem is that for whatever reason I also have a hard time concentrating and getting things done when this is the case. Usually I just stay up until I reach a happy balance seeing that it is ~06:00 I guess you can infer that this process took a while this evening.

There is a professor at Purdue claiming to have created a method making "cold fusion" possible. I am a lot skeptical. We will see what comes of this one. I threw together some fusion links for those (myself) wishing to ask pointed questions.

23:57:39 Thursday March 04 2004
Keeping busy is not the only key to having more experiences and making time "seem longer". You also need to have experiences that exist outside of your routine. I was busy doing things from 11:00 to 20:00 today and almost none of them register at this point. Woke up late, taught class, moved car, attended class, met with 636 group, had dinner, worked on Professor Xie's code for a bit.

The weeks are both very busy and very repetitive. In some regards it is good that they are falling below my threshold for pain. I was worried that I would burn out before the semester was up. However, I also don't want eight weeks of my life to disappear into the mists of my memory.

05:52:09 Monday March 08 2004
I have become rather lax about posting on the weekends. I suppose this is somewhat odd. I notice other people update their livejournals primarily on the weekends.

Friday: I got up and worked all morning on Professor Xie's stuff. At our meeting I admitted that I hadn't worked on it very much this week. This earned me a rebuke from Chinh later in the afternoon. I met with my 590d group about 16:00. We agreed that it was crunch time. I am now the officially designated the postfix hacker. I spent the remainder of the afternoon working on odds and ends (mostly stuff for Prof Xie). When I arrived home Castor was firmly planted on my couch. We ate some food and went over to John's and watched Mambo Italiano. That is quite a flick. It is a very funny Canadian comedy. I recommend it unconditionally.

Saturday: I played Metroid a lot. I also did some laundry, washed a few dishes, and straightened up around the house a bit. I spent quite a bit of time talking with Castor. The odd thing about Castor is when he is around all the time he can wear on your nerves. However, when he isn't around for six months I forget what it is like to have an intelligent conversation about Physics or any number of other topics. It was good to see him again.

Sunday: I got off to a slow start. I finished my laundry, did more dishes, and played one more hour of Metroid while the laundry dried. At 19:00 I had a very enjoyable dinner with Matt and Chris at a local Indian joint. I don't dare try to spell the name. The food was nearly as good as the company. After I drove them home I came to in to work. Here I wrote some postal letters in an attempt to catch up on my correspondence. I finished my 590d report for Tuesday. I began hacking postfix (my attempts have been futile so far). I proofed our 590d group progress report that is due later this week.

On a personal note, I think it is about time that I get medicated again. I don't like it, but crunch time is coming and I will likely need all the help I can get.

On another personal note I have been avoiding making long term plans because I have been very busy. I don't think I have any time left to put them off. I need to get resumes, and passport applications, and any number of other forms out the door ASAP.

03:26:45 Tuesday March 09 2004
I went to a meeting with my 590d group about noon. It lasted for a little over an hour. I managed to get a parking ticket (I believe my fourth for the semester) in that time. Then I headed home to take a nap.

I awoke feeling much better. I did some stuff around the house and made dinner. I started my medication again after dinner. A quick calculation showed that I have just enough to make it through the semester at 0.21 doses per day. A little less than my usual 0.25 doses per day, but if I divide the pills into 5ths I should be fine.

As I worked on notes for 490-dsp and Katy's code at work this evening I could feel the damn drugs winding their way into my brain. Kind of an odd feeling, especially since I usually take them before bed and therefore I miss the original uptake. If I write anything particularly weepy in the next couple of days you will know it is because my neurochemistry hasn't quite evened out just yet. Based on historical evidence peace should be achieved in my brain in 7 to 10 days.

18:11:20 Tuesday March 09 2004
I don't often do the link thing, but it is not often that people who rock so hard start a website:

Ricky Jay's Journal

04:12:01 Wednesday March 10 2004
As is true of all Tuesdays and Thursdays this semester, today was a busy day. I taught cs490-dsp at noon. We talked about complex numbers and touched on the Fourier transform. I ran a little short on material for the second day in a row, and two students didn't show. It is too bad that I don't have more time to devote to this class, but my time is overtaxed and since I am not getting paid for teach and it is not something that I am getting a grade for it has to be the first to suffer when time is short.

I found myself writing poetry in my black journal of doom during the 590d discussion this afternoon. Odd that.

In an amazing feat of will I returned to work after dinner and got a bit ahead. I released a new source tarball to Katy and completed my reading/writeup for Thursday. Sleep now I suppose.

04:49:22 Thursday March 11 2004
Still alive. Katy was pleased with the code. I have about a bazillion five line modifications to do for her for next week.

I nearly lost all will to work this afternoon. I went home, played Metroid a bit, ate dinner, and sat around until the very last minute. I finally came back in to work and touched up my report for tomorrow. I threw together some 490-dsp notes. I am going to be way short on material. I will probably only get a half hours worth of instruction out of it.

The 590d progress report is due tomorrow as well. Argh!

Personal Note: I talked to a couple military recruiters today. Yeah, yeah, I know give peace a chance and all that hippie nonsense. It is not that I have some extreme desire to go out and kill people, rather I want to get out of Lafayette, see the world, and have a job where I don't sit in a chair and think all day. I can't say that I am not drawn to the danger as well. You are never more alive than when someone else is actively trying to kill you. Tyler Durden is right.

Tyler: The question, Raymond, was what did you want to be? ... Raymond: Veterinarian. ... Tyler: So you need more schooling. Raymond: Too much school. Tyler: Would you rather be dead? Would you rather die here, on your knees, in the back of a convenience store? Raymond: Please, no. Tyler: I'm keeping your license. I'm gonna check in on you. I know where you live. If you're not working to be a veterinarian in six weeks, you will be dead. ... Narrator: Come on, this isn't funny! What the fuck was the point of that?! Tyler: Tomorrow will be the most beautiful day of Raymond K Hessel's life. His breakfast will taste better than any meal you and I have ever tasted.

23:35:50 Thursday March 11 2004
It is time to sleep now. I must get up and get something accomplished on Professor Jun Xie's project tomorrow.

02:16:58 Tuesday March 16 2004
On Friday after work there was much drinking and drunken wrestling. Friendly drunken fights are terribly cathartic. Unfortunately I drank myself ill for the first time in years. Needless to say I did not have a pleasant sleep or a pleasant morning.

Brad is back in town this weekend to get his stuff now that he has secured a job for himself. Once I got back on my feet I spent most of Saturday hanging out with him. Terry, Brad, Lita, and I had dinner at BW3s. We watched Gross Point Blank at John's place.

On Sunday I got up, dusted off the old Ravenloft notes, and threw together a game. That evening I ran the game to a modicum of success. I was up far too late.

This morning I awoke after less than three hours of sleep. I went in to work. I made some serious progress on Professor Xie's code before our meeting at one. After the meeting I cleaned up some other miscelanea at work and headed home. I cleaned up and went out to the purdue.talk sushi night. Chris Deckard, Mike Shuey, Shuey's wife (who's name escapes me), and the ever enigmatic Josette were in attendance. Much fish and a generally good time was had by all.

02:17:12 Thursday March 18 2004
It is Saint Patty's Day. I worked all day, er well I was at work all day. I didn't get nearly what I wanted accomplished. About 21:00 I gave up, came home, and had dinner and a Guinness.

On the brighter side, I did discover that Ted and Nikki (both noders) will be gracing us here in West Lafayette with their presence on Saturday. That should be good fun, even if I shouldn't take the evening off.

04:26:57 Friday March 19 2004
I had a productive day today. IP reassembly for our router should be finished by early tomorrow. Fragmentation shouldn't be very hard. Perhaps I will even get a start on the actual routing table... probably not. I need to remember to ask Yakov about a couple of tricks his group used in their router.

I am not going to get much sleep. I need to pick up John and Wanke at the airport at 09:00.

And of course the obligatory most amusing link of the day and my most recent contribution to the web-heads list.

03:55:33 Sunday March 21 2004
I haven't been sleeping well. Ever since picking up John and Wanke at the airport I have just felt off. I wake up tired and cannot get to sleep when it is late. This is not a good sign. Crunch time is upon us and I am not sure that I am prepared. I have been under more stress and come closer to losing it than this. I figure I will survive. I suspect that I will not be too happy until the end of the semester though.

I haven't accomplished NEARLY what I wanted to this break. Tomorrow is the last day of the break. I will finish up my 590d work hopefully. I suppose Monday can be the official 490-dsp day.

Today I gave up on coding. I have been becoming less and less productive each day so I took today off. I made serious progress in cleaning the house. Chris, Matt, and I had Chinese food for dinner. Ted a.k.a. [Jethro Bodine] showed up about 20:00. It was good to see him again. We sat around and shot the shit and drank beer and watched Futurama. Sara eventually joined us. I was hoping that Nikki a.k.a. [pitcher] would make an appearance after her sister's bachelorette party ended, but no such luck. Anyway a good time was had by all. I think Ted got bored, because he cut out earlier than I would have expected. I didn't want to plan too much given the spontaneous nature of the event, but I think we kept him occupied for a few hours at least. Hopefully after finals we can take a trip up to Chi-town and visit them.

06:18:17 Monday March 22 2004
Wrote more code today. I gave up on modifying postfix for our 590d project. I decided to hack exim instead. I made a great deal of progress with exim. This is a good thing because I was becoming quite frustrated with postfix.

I started on the second 490-dsp project as well. I wish I had finished even one of the projects that I set out to complete over break. Even though I made progress on many of them I am left with the feeling that I didn't accomplish anything.

00:54:23 Tuesday March 23 2004
I didn't sleep much. At least this time I have the excuse of not having enough time to sleep as opposed to lying their for hours at a time or waking up a bazillion times. Things got back into swing today. It is good to have a schedule again.

I met with my 590d group, informed them of my progress, and scheduled a meeting to discuss progress with the professor. I had lunch with Lehman and John at Panera Bread.

After lunch I met with Professor Comer and his Xinu group. It looks like I will be working on a NAT implementation for XINU in order to earn my summer credit. After the meeting I returned to my hole and attempted to grade cs490-dsp projects, none of which worked. I will have to declare a amnesty tomorrow. I made progress on the notes for tomorrow, but I believe I am going to turn in early and finish them before class in the morning.

Quote of the day:
Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar.
-- Drew Carey