Monday, April 25, 2005
I'm planning to buy a used cheap laptop, just so I can do some typing and stuff without being anchored to my room all the time. I'm browsing sumarket, craigslist, and ebay right now, I'll see what I can find.
Sunday, April 24, 2005
My dad has a great post on his blog: THE GIST: The Paris Hilton Tax Cut. Instead of letting Republicans frame the estate tax as a "death tax" that cripples farmers, some smart Yale professors are framing it in a different context. No one thinks a spoiled Paris needs to keep more of her daddy's money.
The Game was awesome. Details to come.
QotD:
[Robert's phone rings. He goes towards his room to answer, but Steve blocks him in the hallway.]
Robert: "Dammit!"
[They start wrestling.]
Steve: "Hahaha!--OW!! I think he cut my neck!"
Will: "I love it whenever anyone hurts Steve."
QotD:
[Robert's phone rings. He goes towards his room to answer, but Steve blocks him in the hallway.]
Robert: "Dammit!"
[They start wrestling.]
Steve: "Hahaha!--OW!! I think he cut my neck!"
Will: "I love it whenever anyone hurts Steve."
Thursday, April 21, 2005
The Roble Game is taking place this Friday and Saturday. Starting at 6pm and continuing into Saturday morning, teams of students will drive across the Bay Area, solving complex clues that lead from one location to the next.
Last year's Game was one of the highlights of my freshman year, and it wasn't even a particularly good Game. (Some of the clues were nearly impossible, and the whole thing took too long--a full 24 hours in our case.) Read about my experience on my website: http://www.stanford.edu/~jhoff/roblegame2004.
This year, the Game Controllers are being hardcore about it, with an "in-character" website: Cranea: California Rapid Alert Narcotics Enforcement Agency. Supposedly we'll be training to be narcotics agents, tracking the whereabouts of drug dealers.
Our team this year is:
THE THINK TANK
Jeremy Hoffman, sophomore
Shane Combest, sophomore
Brian Chang, junior
Brian Salomaki, junior
Danny Arbeiter, freshman
Shane's driving; his car is in the shop, so he rented one from Enterprise for the weekend.
The Game will destroy my weekend; besides actually taking up my Friday night and Saturday morning/day, I have to prepare during the day Friday and recover on Saturday and Sunday. So I'm getting my CS107 program done before the weekend and hoping for the best. If I'm lucky, Matt Inkeles will celebrate his birthday on Saturday night, and we'll finish The Game early enough Satuday that I can go to sleep and wake up in time for the night. We'll see.
In other news, I've been listening to Elvis Presley recently after OurTunes-ing a compilation. I can't believe I didn't have any in my collection before. Only Natalie Tabb's mentioning of "Can't Help Falling In Love" prompted me to take action a week ago. I'm lucky she did because Elvis is simply great. Then I also got a couple of Everly Brothers songs... it's like being at home listening to my dad's music.
Last year's Game was one of the highlights of my freshman year, and it wasn't even a particularly good Game. (Some of the clues were nearly impossible, and the whole thing took too long--a full 24 hours in our case.) Read about my experience on my website: http://www.stanford.edu/~jhoff/roblegame2004.
This year, the Game Controllers are being hardcore about it, with an "in-character" website: Cranea: California Rapid Alert Narcotics Enforcement Agency. Supposedly we'll be training to be narcotics agents, tracking the whereabouts of drug dealers.
Our team this year is:
THE THINK TANK
Jeremy Hoffman, sophomore
Shane Combest, sophomore
Brian Chang, junior
Brian Salomaki, junior
Danny Arbeiter, freshman
Shane's driving; his car is in the shop, so he rented one from Enterprise for the weekend.
The Game will destroy my weekend; besides actually taking up my Friday night and Saturday morning/day, I have to prepare during the day Friday and recover on Saturday and Sunday. So I'm getting my CS107 program done before the weekend and hoping for the best. If I'm lucky, Matt Inkeles will celebrate his birthday on Saturday night, and we'll finish The Game early enough Satuday that I can go to sleep and wake up in time for the night. We'll see.
In other news, I've been listening to Elvis Presley recently after OurTunes-ing a compilation. I can't believe I didn't have any in my collection before. Only Natalie Tabb's mentioning of "Can't Help Falling In Love" prompted me to take action a week ago. I'm lucky she did because Elvis is simply great. Then I also got a couple of Everly Brothers songs... it's like being at home listening to my dad's music.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
QotD:
Kevin Chang: Waking my roommate up at 4 am, not a good idea
Kevin Chang: he has lots of knives
Kevin Chang: Waking my roommate up at 4 am, not a good idea
Kevin Chang: he has lots of knives
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
QotD:
"There's no sex in graduate school . . . none. Oh, there's schooling in graduate school. But you don't want schooling, you want sex. And there's no sex . . . in graduate school."
-Navin Siranandam, The Stanford Daily, 18 April 2005, paraphrasing Chris Rock's "No Sex in the Champagne Room"
"There's no sex in graduate school . . . none. Oh, there's schooling in graduate school. But you don't want schooling, you want sex. And there's no sex . . . in graduate school."
-Navin Siranandam, The Stanford Daily, 18 April 2005, paraphrasing Chris Rock's "No Sex in the Champagne Room"
Saturday, April 16, 2005
Shoutout to my grandmother for turning 87!
I had a great Friday, involving class, a nap, tennis, guitar playing, programming, grilled burgers and hot dogs, going out, coming back and hanging out. I had intended to walk to GovCo, but I bumped into a friend and must've gotten turned around because I ended up at Lake Lagunita. But I heard music from across the lake, so I walked around to Lambda Nu. DJs at Stanford parties pretty much play the exact same music, but the guy at Lambda Nu was mixing it up, playing songs like Chumbawamba's Tubthumping and Franz Ferdinand's Take Me Out. Tubthumping rules. I GET KNOCKED DOWN, BUT I GET UP AGAIN, YOU'RE NEVER GONNA KEEP ME DOWN!
Bits of freshman wisdom I accumulated:
"The FroSoCo party was so unintimidating. Not full of huge athletes like a lot of parties."
"I'd rather throw up before I go to sleep. It beats having to throw up when I wake up."
(I asked if anything new had happened since the start of spring quarter.) "My dad died." (Oh, I'm sorry.) "And I got married." (pause) "But she died too."
I had a great Friday, involving class, a nap, tennis, guitar playing, programming, grilled burgers and hot dogs, going out, coming back and hanging out. I had intended to walk to GovCo, but I bumped into a friend and must've gotten turned around because I ended up at Lake Lagunita. But I heard music from across the lake, so I walked around to Lambda Nu. DJs at Stanford parties pretty much play the exact same music, but the guy at Lambda Nu was mixing it up, playing songs like Chumbawamba's Tubthumping and Franz Ferdinand's Take Me Out. Tubthumping rules. I GET KNOCKED DOWN, BUT I GET UP AGAIN, YOU'RE NEVER GONNA KEEP ME DOWN!
Bits of freshman wisdom I accumulated:
"The FroSoCo party was so unintimidating. Not full of huge athletes like a lot of parties."
"I'd rather throw up before I go to sleep. It beats having to throw up when I wake up."
(I asked if anything new had happened since the start of spring quarter.) "My dad died." (Oh, I'm sorry.) "And I got married." (pause) "But she died too."
Frist to Participate in Anti-Filibuster Telecast;
Democrats Say He Is Mixing Religion, Politics
I would think so much better of religion if it weren't so readily abused in such an anti-American way. I hope that even "good Christians" get put off by this religious McCarthyism.
Democrats Say He Is Mixing Religion, Politics
I would think so much better of religion if it weren't so readily abused in such an anti-American way. I hope that even "good Christians" get put off by this religious McCarthyism.
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
I'm very happy with my Spring quarter schedule.
Stats 116: Theory of Probability (5 units)
CS 107: Programming Paradigms (5-6 units)
CS 157: Logic and Automated Reasoning (3 units)
CS 196: Computer Consulting, aka RCC Training (2 units)
Weekly schedule: (*=videotaped class)
Mon/Wed:
10-10:50 -- Stats 116
11-11:50 -- CS 107*
2:15-3:05 -- Intermediate Tennis
3:15-4:45 -- CS 107 "lab" (only Wed)
Tues/Thurs:
10-10:50 -- Stats 116
11-12:15 -- CS 157*
4:15-5:05 -- CS 107 section*
Fri:
10-10:50 -- Stats 116 section
11-11:50 -- CS 107*
Here's a Theory of Probability problem: The probability that Jeremy attends Stats 116 equals the fraction (Number_Attended_Out_Of_N / N) as N approaches ten weeks worth of classes. Currently the ratio is about 2/10. I already know most of the stuff they're teaching, but the class is required for CS majors.
CS 107 is a fantastic class. I am learning so many powerful C++ programming techniques.
Although this schedule is all-techie, it's balanced in that it's a decent but not overwhelming amount of work.
Stats 116: Theory of Probability (5 units)
CS 107: Programming Paradigms (5-6 units)
CS 157: Logic and Automated Reasoning (3 units)
CS 196: Computer Consulting, aka RCC Training (2 units)
Weekly schedule: (*=videotaped class)
Mon/Wed:
10-10:50 -- Stats 116
11-11:50 -- CS 107*
2:15-3:05 -- Intermediate Tennis
3:15-4:45 -- CS 107 "lab" (only Wed)
Tues/Thurs:
10-10:50 -- Stats 116
11-12:15 -- CS 157*
4:15-5:05 -- CS 107 section*
Fri:
10-10:50 -- Stats 116 section
11-11:50 -- CS 107*
Here's a Theory of Probability problem: The probability that Jeremy attends Stats 116 equals the fraction (Number_Attended_Out_Of_N / N) as N approaches ten weeks worth of classes. Currently the ratio is about 2/10. I already know most of the stuff they're teaching, but the class is required for CS majors.
CS 107 is a fantastic class. I am learning so many powerful C++ programming techniques.
Although this schedule is all-techie, it's balanced in that it's a decent but not overwhelming amount of work.
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
My sympathy goes out to my drawmate Matt, who's in the hospital tonight after surgery on his broken arm.
Also, congratulations to UNC and those who bracketed them as winners. The game was tense in the final minutes... almost as tense as the final minutes of '24'. This week's '24' was in-fucking-TENSE. I won't discuss it further, as they have two encore showings over the next week.
Also, congratulations to UNC and those who bracketed them as winners. The game was tense in the final minutes... almost as tense as the final minutes of '24'. This week's '24' was in-fucking-TENSE. I won't discuss it further, as they have two encore showings over the next week.
Friday, April 01, 2005
I met with a CS course advisor yesterday, and he and I came to this agreement: I shouldn't major in CS. Luckily we're only a few days into the quarter, so I have time to completely switch my schedule. (Thank you Stanford class shopping period!) I'm now leaning towards a major in History, probably with an American History specialty, or a major in Economics. I'll keep you guys posted.
Comedian and Actor Mitch Hedberg, 37, Dies
Mitch was a brilliant source of random absurd commentary.
"I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it."
"I like to close my eyes when I'm on stage, because I have a picture of an audience enjoying the show more drawn on the back of my eyelids."
"I put fruit on top of my waffles, because I want something to brush off."
"It's very dangerous to wave at someone you don't know, because what if they don't have a hand? They'll think you're cocky! 'Look what I got, motherfucker! This thing is useful! I'm gonna go pick something up.'"
Mitch made the world a slightly better place to live. I'm sorry to lose him, on 4/1/05 no less.
Mitch was a brilliant source of random absurd commentary.
"I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it."
"I like to close my eyes when I'm on stage, because I have a picture of an audience enjoying the show more drawn on the back of my eyelids."
"I put fruit on top of my waffles, because I want something to brush off."
"It's very dangerous to wave at someone you don't know, because what if they don't have a hand? They'll think you're cocky! 'Look what I got, motherfucker! This thing is useful! I'm gonna go pick something up.'"
Mitch made the world a slightly better place to live. I'm sorry to lose him, on 4/1/05 no less.
.jpg)