Why is it that movies, which generally people like to watch alone or quietly with a small group, are shown in theaters; when sports games, which people like to watch on big screens in loud rowdy bunches aren't?
Does anyone else think that playing sporting events in movie theaters would be awesome? You and your friends could get together and go watch the game on a massive screen in a surround sound with a bunch of other people who would be cheering/booing etc. It'd be like being there.
Just a thought.
**UPDATE**
Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks so, though I don't know about this 3D business:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28545049/
(Thanks Anon!)
Monday, January 12, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Computer Issues and colossal snowmen
So as you may or may not know, I've been having big computer problems for the past month, though a thorough diagnosis shows that my computer is infected with a virus known as "Windows Vista", that's another story. The point is, I've been blog-disabled for a while, but I'm back online! And I take this opportunity to let you know that tonight will be the setting for the birth of a creature more infamous than Bigfoot, more legendary than Nessie, more ugly than Gary Busey. That's right.
The Snow Colossus. (Or "Coldossus", get it? HA!)
It boils down to this. I'm an engineer now, and I like to build stuff, and I love things in excess. So when MIT was involved in a snow emergency, where nearly a foot of snow fell in 24 hours with predictions for snow for the rest of the week, the idea for the snow colossus was born. I'll keep you updated.
But bigger.
The Snow Colossus. (Or "Coldossus", get it? HA!)
It boils down to this. I'm an engineer now, and I like to build stuff, and I love things in excess. So when MIT was involved in a snow emergency, where nearly a foot of snow fell in 24 hours with predictions for snow for the rest of the week, the idea for the snow colossus was born. I'll keep you updated.
But bigger.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
A New Beginning
Let me preface this all by saying there are no words in the English language to aptly describe the state my room was in. English wasn't designed to deal with horror on such a scale. It was appalling, it would have made my mother weep. You know that feeling when you spill sugar or salt on the kitchen floor and then walk on it barefoot? You know how irritating that is? That's how my floor was all the time. So yeah, it was bad.
Something like that.
Something like that.Now I don't consider myself to be incredibly type-A like my older sister, in fact I'm so laid back I may in fact be around type-G or H. But there is a line, and having a filthy filthy room is definitely across that line.
But believe it or not, this entry isn't about how I cleaned my room, although it sort of is, it's like a metaphor (though that sentence was a simile....) Just hang on, it'll make sense I promise.
The way I got around to cleaning my room was by living in this terrible state for so long until I finally discovered that it was impacting my life in a very negative way. I didn't clean it before because I seemed to be getting along fine and to perhaps a larger extent, I was intimidated by the scope of it.
That's the same way I cleaned out some parts of my old life. Without getting too terribly contrived in the backstory, for the past 7 years of my life I've been clinging to this girl in some aspect or another. For 7 years I would've given nearly anything to be with her and I held on to the idea that one day, everything would change, that it was just a matter of waiting, even long after I knew if I wanted what I was waiting for.
Now at this point I could try and blame movies for instilling a false sense of what romance is like, but to be honest it wasn't movies. ( I can still blame movies for instilling a sense of how awesome it is to drive a car into a helicopter though.) It was me.
It was me. All along it was me.
So on the heels of this epiphany I realized something: I could let go. Now I don't mean to sound incredibly creepy or anything like that, but I had a box that had letters, tickets, and all sorts of sentimental knick-knacks. I can remember nights where I'd read through some of those old things and cry, and that box was so important to me that it was one of the things I shipped here to college.
Last night I ripped up and threw away everything inside it.
Before it sounds like I just went on a crazy rant, there is something important to realize. At no time last night did I feel angry or spiteful or anything less than resolved. It wasn't a moment of passion where I cried while burning photos or anything like that, it was just me acknowledging that part of my life as over, and getting rid of the old baggage that held me back, and what would have seemed so impossible to me not but 3 months ago was in fact so very easy once I started. I remember holding a letter in my hand and tearing it in half, and I felt relief. For seven years I'd been looking for closure on this, and last night it emerged from the scraps of paper.
The letters were the big thing, but I also shut down my old blog that was filled with my vague musings on the situation, and I shut down my myspace that was filled with messages about the situation. In essence I've got no more chains, I'm free.
So why now? Because I'm growing up. Because I've realized you shouldn't devote your life to someone who wouldn't be willing to do the same for you, and that you should love someone who loves you back just as much. Love isn't about not making mistakes, but it's about correcting them, and it's not about things being easy, but it's about the courage to do things that are hard.
I've come so far in the last 2 months, I've grown up more in the last 2 months than I think I have in the last 2 years. Though to be fair it wasn't an overnight transformation, I can see that in most ways I had already let go over the course of the past year, but last night was the finale. And now that I've resolved the biggest issue of my teenage life, I can start to fix the mistakes that I've made.
That's why you should clean your room kids, because it will change your life. =)
(Also it's nice to not have plates serving as petri dishes on your desk)
But believe it or not, this entry isn't about how I cleaned my room, although it sort of is, it's like a metaphor (though that sentence was a simile....) Just hang on, it'll make sense I promise.
The way I got around to cleaning my room was by living in this terrible state for so long until I finally discovered that it was impacting my life in a very negative way. I didn't clean it before because I seemed to be getting along fine and to perhaps a larger extent, I was intimidated by the scope of it.
That's the same way I cleaned out some parts of my old life. Without getting too terribly contrived in the backstory, for the past 7 years of my life I've been clinging to this girl in some aspect or another. For 7 years I would've given nearly anything to be with her and I held on to the idea that one day, everything would change, that it was just a matter of waiting, even long after I knew if I wanted what I was waiting for.
Now at this point I could try and blame movies for instilling a false sense of what romance is like, but to be honest it wasn't movies. ( I can still blame movies for instilling a sense of how awesome it is to drive a car into a helicopter though.) It was me.
It was me. All along it was me.
So on the heels of this epiphany I realized something: I could let go. Now I don't mean to sound incredibly creepy or anything like that, but I had a box that had letters, tickets, and all sorts of sentimental knick-knacks. I can remember nights where I'd read through some of those old things and cry, and that box was so important to me that it was one of the things I shipped here to college.
Last night I ripped up and threw away everything inside it.
Before it sounds like I just went on a crazy rant, there is something important to realize. At no time last night did I feel angry or spiteful or anything less than resolved. It wasn't a moment of passion where I cried while burning photos or anything like that, it was just me acknowledging that part of my life as over, and getting rid of the old baggage that held me back, and what would have seemed so impossible to me not but 3 months ago was in fact so very easy once I started. I remember holding a letter in my hand and tearing it in half, and I felt relief. For seven years I'd been looking for closure on this, and last night it emerged from the scraps of paper.
The letters were the big thing, but I also shut down my old blog that was filled with my vague musings on the situation, and I shut down my myspace that was filled with messages about the situation. In essence I've got no more chains, I'm free.
So why now? Because I'm growing up. Because I've realized you shouldn't devote your life to someone who wouldn't be willing to do the same for you, and that you should love someone who loves you back just as much. Love isn't about not making mistakes, but it's about correcting them, and it's not about things being easy, but it's about the courage to do things that are hard.
I've come so far in the last 2 months, I've grown up more in the last 2 months than I think I have in the last 2 years. Though to be fair it wasn't an overnight transformation, I can see that in most ways I had already let go over the course of the past year, but last night was the finale. And now that I've resolved the biggest issue of my teenage life, I can start to fix the mistakes that I've made.
That's why you should clean your room kids, because it will change your life. =)
(Also it's nice to not have plates serving as petri dishes on your desk)
Thursday, November 6, 2008
McCain speech remix
No matter how you felt after watching the election results, hopefully this will make you laugh as hard as I did. Oh the wonders of modern computing:
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Work
So every blog in the universe prefaces an entry after a long period of time with something like "oh man, sorry about the lack of entries, I've been SooOoOooOo0Ooo-0-00-0 busy!"
That's pretty cliche, so I'll make something up instead.
Oh man, sorry about the lack of entries, my laptop was confiscated by the CIA for containing unusual levels of awesome and I was only recently able to prove to them that I'm qualified to be that cool.
Better?
Anyway, much to the disappointment of my physics fans, this post is not about the integral of Force dx (sorry guys), by work I mean actual work, like the process of expending yourself doing things you don't like because they're good for you. One of the things I've learned lately here at MIT is really what it means to work hard. I mean, I thought I knew what hard work was from high school, and to an extent that may have been true. But in all humility, I was a pretty smart kid, I didn't have to study as much as some of my friends and I never really read the books and I still did just fine. But it never really dawned on me that I didn't know how to work, I'd never really had to before.
A few weeks ago the thorough arse-whupping that was Freshmen Hell Week gave me that epiphany. At first I was disappointed with my grades because the first thing I thought was "I'm working so hard and this is what I have to show for it?" Then I thought about it and realized, I really hadn't worked hard. I hadn't read the book. I did the psets the night before. I didn't take notes. I goofed around with my friends all night. Where was the hard work?
So these last few weeks I've been doing something strange and applying myself, focusing on doing things when they need to be done and not just glancing through material, I've been making sleep and work schedules and going to libraries and studying and all the things I should've been doing and guess what?
I've never been happier.
There is nothing like making a 95 on a test where the class average is 55 and standard deviation is 10. There is nothing like getting a solid 5 hours of sleep every night (that may not seem like much, but this is MIT after all). Actually knowing whats going on during lecture and gleening some deep understanding that previously wasn't there is such a great feeling, and it's wonderful to be able to answer my friends questions. And the best part is that I didn't really need to give up anything to do it, I only stopped wasting so much time. I never realized that I wasted more time than an all day "Meet the Spartans" marathon.
So I guess the point amongst all this is that amidst all the great things MIT is teaching me right now, the most influential has been managing my time and improving my work habits. Who'd have thought? I love this place.
That's pretty cliche, so I'll make something up instead.
Oh man, sorry about the lack of entries, my laptop was confiscated by the CIA for containing unusual levels of awesome and I was only recently able to prove to them that I'm qualified to be that cool.
Better?
Anyway, much to the disappointment of my physics fans, this post is not about the integral of Force dx (sorry guys), by work I mean actual work, like the process of expending yourself doing things you don't like because they're good for you. One of the things I've learned lately here at MIT is really what it means to work hard. I mean, I thought I knew what hard work was from high school, and to an extent that may have been true. But in all humility, I was a pretty smart kid, I didn't have to study as much as some of my friends and I never really read the books and I still did just fine. But it never really dawned on me that I didn't know how to work, I'd never really had to before.
A few weeks ago the thorough arse-whupping that was Freshmen Hell Week gave me that epiphany. At first I was disappointed with my grades because the first thing I thought was "I'm working so hard and this is what I have to show for it?" Then I thought about it and realized, I really hadn't worked hard. I hadn't read the book. I did the psets the night before. I didn't take notes. I goofed around with my friends all night. Where was the hard work?
So these last few weeks I've been doing something strange and applying myself, focusing on doing things when they need to be done and not just glancing through material, I've been making sleep and work schedules and going to libraries and studying and all the things I should've been doing and guess what?
I've never been happier.
There is nothing like making a 95 on a test where the class average is 55 and standard deviation is 10. There is nothing like getting a solid 5 hours of sleep every night (that may not seem like much, but this is MIT after all). Actually knowing whats going on during lecture and gleening some deep understanding that previously wasn't there is such a great feeling, and it's wonderful to be able to answer my friends questions. And the best part is that I didn't really need to give up anything to do it, I only stopped wasting so much time. I never realized that I wasted more time than an all day "Meet the Spartans" marathon.
So I guess the point amongst all this is that amidst all the great things MIT is teaching me right now, the most influential has been managing my time and improving my work habits. Who'd have thought? I love this place.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Cold!
So now that my entry titles have completely regressed into one word grunts, I'm fairly sure you can guess what I have to complain about today. It's really cold. Really.
Now I know there's going to be at least one or two people who read that and say "Oh just wait until the winter, then you'll see whats cold". Now that may (read:will) be true, but I'd like to bring up an important fact about weather. Temperature is relative. I'm sure the winter will be a dark bitter freezing time for all of us, but I'm at least smart enough to know to be prepared with coats and scarves etc. The Autumnal (EDIT: turns out I did NOT make that word up) temperatures took me by surprise, both by extremes and by swiftness. Seriously, in like one day it went from being 73-75, to a low off 44 degrees tonight.
Did you read that? 44! I realize that's not "cold" by absolute standards, (or absolute cold by any standards, hehe science joke), but considering in my home town it's 83 right now, that's a bit of an adjustment. I'm off to spend my paycheck on long sleeves and wool, I'll update you all when I have something else to complain about.
Now I know there's going to be at least one or two people who read that and say "Oh just wait until the winter, then you'll see whats cold". Now that may (read:will) be true, but I'd like to bring up an important fact about weather. Temperature is relative. I'm sure the winter will be a dark bitter freezing time for all of us, but I'm at least smart enough to know to be prepared with coats and scarves etc. The Autumnal (EDIT: turns out I did NOT make that word up) temperatures took me by surprise, both by extremes and by swiftness. Seriously, in like one day it went from being 73-75, to a low off 44 degrees tonight.
Did you read that? 44! I realize that's not "cold" by absolute standards, (or absolute cold by any standards, hehe science joke), but considering in my home town it's 83 right now, that's a bit of an adjustment. I'm off to spend my paycheck on long sleeves and wool, I'll update you all when I have something else to complain about.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
DANG!
wow this place speeds up quick, which is partially why there has been a distinct lack of posting. The other partiality (new word!) is because I've been pretty sick. But to keep you all updated, I have two tests this week, had an MRI today, blood labs yesterday and Thursday, Russell Peters is coming on Friday, and I'm a brother at Beta Theta Pi. I'll do a lengthy post about Boston in the fall this weekend.
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