Single wide hero

Whaaaaaaat?

Jorb for internets?

http://www.orionsarm.com/eg/index.html

I don't really know what this one's about. I don't want to know what it's about. I don't want to know if anyone even knows what the fuck this is about. In fact, if you do know what this is about, just fucking keep it to yourself because for some reason going to that was a total mind fuck for me.

http://slav0nic.org.ua/static/books/python/

Here's a list of books on python

http://web.mst.edu/~dpmq4d/moscow-underground/

Panoramic shots of the Moscow Underground from someone at my old school in Missouri. I probably took Russian with them.

http://teamsugar.com/group/248853/blog/749942

The Raven read by Christopher Walken

http://www.ilkeryoldas.com/retro.jpg

Piiimmmpppp

Last night I was up until 4 am watching old ass movies on AMC like I'm fucking Cyndi Lauper. I got enough problems in my life without going through this shit. Now I have to babysit servers until 11........

I hope they become self aware and I'm the first to go.

I miss Christmas, so here's my favorite Christmas song

My mom brought up a very good question that a young computer scientist tends to forget sometimes. That is, the difference between low level and high level code. To the lay person, hearing the term low level brings with it bad connotations, like some kind of lesser code.

Well, I'm going to explain it.

The low/high level standard, as it pertains to code and programming, has to do with access to hardware. Most of the time this means the code's access to the cpu and how many layers are between it and the instructions you are giving it.

At the low level, you are close to the hardware; so to speak. Let's say you're like me and your expertise is C++. C++ can be as high or low as the programmer wants to make it- thus it is considered a mid level language. Coding in assembly will always be seen as a lower level programming language than C++, and Visual Basic may as well be the international space station, it's that high up.

At the lowest level you have machine code. I'm sure there are a few freaks in the world that can hammer out a program entirely in machine code, but they probably smell funny and have a neck beard.

So, when I say I'm starting work with low level AIX code, I mean I will be developing software which works in an intimate relation ship with the server core processor.

P.S. I can't spell for shit tonight

I got a promotion today. I'm moving on to low level AIX programming. This means big things for your 'ol pal Jimmy.

Also, as a side project I have been fiddling around with some directx programming using C++. Its strictly a learning project, but a very rudimentary 3d FPS will be made in the coming month or so. Nothing special at all. I'm not the artist I once was, so I don't know how great the rendered characters are going to be...

But, it is a foundation that shall be built upon. Maybe I will get a wacom and play with Maya a little. I'm more interested in the physics programming to be honest.

Ideas are cropping up for a top down throwback to vector graphics games. I'm calling it "Merle Haggard's Outlaw Country Adventure."

So I wake up in Orlando, groggy and sick. My throat is swollen shut, and it hurts to breath, let alone try to swallow a morning drink. I turn on the news and there's a story about a 50 car pile up on I-4. Seems my quick way to work is closed for a 5 mile stretch, making a 30 minute drive turn into a fucking 2 hour one.

So I walk into work. I'm sick. I just drove 2 hours to get to work; and now I have to sit here and pretend everything is ok for 8 hours.

I'm going to go home and get some sleep.

If I somehow grew the balls that you would need to do what I want to, without having a legendary black rock/fathers of fucking metal type band, I'd grow my hair out like Tony Iommi.

Its not like I can't. We have very similar hair. My shit grows with a wild ferocity of a young wilderbeast.

Here's a picture if you don't know



Oh, and while I'm sort of on the subject, check this shit out.

Ace Combat 6's online dog fight mode is the greatest fucking thing. I've been shooting down jap kids while listening to the song that currently graces me with it's presence on my main page (Aces High, Iron Maiden).

No wonder these fucks lost the pacific war.

I got my acceptance letter from USF today, into the School of Engineering. That's the hardest school at the university to get into.

Now I'm trying to enjoy Halloween, since I had to work till 11. I think I'm going to watch G4's halloween shits, and flip back and forth to Ghost Hunters.

FIEA

Took the tour this morning. The website really doesn't do the joint any justice. Nothing really prepared me for the ass load of awesome that flew right into my face as soon as I opened the doors to the place. In the end, I was struck speechless, and probably came off like a complete idiot to the two really gracious people who gave me the tour. Then I met the programming instructor, who asked me if I liked the Tigers, and instead of thinking immediately of Detroit, I say "No" with utter disgust in my voice, he gives me the worst look, and I suddenly realize he's not talking about the minor league Lakeland Tigers.

Quite a fucking curb your enthusiasm moment.

Oh, and Shi likes the school's brochure, it has a little paper craft cubicle to build.

Over the weekend I contracted a really bad cold. To the point that yester (Sunday) I was completely bedridden and couldn't go 5 minutes without having to blow my nose, sneeze, or go to the bathroom. It was rough I tell ya, rough.

But, I cowboyed the fuck up and took some sleeping pills and tried to sleep it off.

In the morning, I felt better. Not perfectly back in good health, but I knew I could make it. I do my thing, take a shower, get dressed, kiss the wife goodbye, and leave. I make good time getting there, because I was told to be there at 7 and to make sure I wasn't late. I park in a place outside where my orientation was to take place, go inside this big warehouse, walk up some stairs, and on the door is a schedule... orientation July 16, 8am-3pm.

Fuck.

I could have slept another hour.

No big deal though. I wait around, orientation goes on, its mindboggingly boring. In fact, I used up all the energy I had and by the time it was over and I went over to where I was actually to work, I felt like shit again. Not as bad as the day before, just drained and not feeling well.

Thats when the information began to be shoveled into my skull. I couldn't tell you what was talked about. I just wasn't there. But, I feel good about this whole thing.

I went home, and my wonderful wife let me take a nap for a few hours.

Now she needs to be a good dependent and pick which health insurance I should get, cause I have no fucking idea.

And the douche bag of the day award goes to... *drum roll*

The guy who just walked into starbucks and smugly ordered a 5 shot caramel macchiatto.

He had a pony tail.

So we finally know of the existence of at least one planet in our galaxy that can support life.

What if there's fucking life on that planet.

If there is, how long has it been there.

If everything in existence is controlled in mathematical precision, shouldn't life there be eerily similart to life on Earth?

Like, what if there are humans on this planet. Of course, they wouldn't be humans like us. But what if they looked exactly like us.

What the hell is religion going to say when we find life on other planets?

What if humans are originally from this planet, and we left after we fucked it up, and we're going to leave Earth one day because we've fucked it up too much, and go back to that planet now that its had a chance to heal itself.

What if its a big ass cycle that we've been going through forever?

Lets say some dude lands on this planet, and finds some people that are just like humans.

"So, what the hell? You're just like me?"

"Yeah, you guys were a scientific research mission that we lost contact with, so we just naturally assumed it wasn't safe to go to that planet."

"Wow, so do you know anything about who built the pyramids?"

"Bro, you're standing on one."

"Hey, ya'll got halo?"

"Whats that?"

"You're in it, mother fucker!"

and then the dude pulls out an assault rifle, and starts tossing plasma grenades all over the fucking place. Because, lets face it, when we find other life in the universe one of two things are going to happen.

1. They're going to be so mind boggling more evolved than us that we won't comprehend they're existence

or 2. We're going to fucking kill them and take their shit.

In any case, I've come up with this idea. I'm going to start beaming transmissions to this planet, telling them that I'm the ruler of the galactic empire, and that in order for admission into our protection, they must build me a grand palace.

Then one day, after I've forgotten about it, I'm going to be sitting on my couch and get a phone call from NASA, turn to my wife and be like, "NASA wants to know why this planet built me a palace, and if we want to go there?"

Tonight I'm attempting to watch an entire episode of SNL, from beginning to end. It just began, wish me luck on my trip through 2 hours of unfunny.

Ok, the bit about the Scarface/Tupac painting was pretty funny

This Regis and Kelly bit is fucking awful. Its just a straight impression, it's like they forgot to put jokes in it.

Haha, a New Jersey Jets jumpsuit and a derby hat with a feather in it. +1 laugh

Roy Rules wasn't bad, +1

That news cast bit was awful. Not Weekend Update, but the one where the girl saved the people in the apartment building and the bi-curious field reporter... Oh , and Bjork is on now..... What the fuck is wrong with her. Theres something wrong with a musician when their music sounds like, when you're watching a sci-fi flick from the early 80's and the lead walks into a future night club and the future music is playing. Thats what this is like, if you don't get where I'm going with this. Who are these back up singers, what the fuck kind of fabric is Bjork's dress made out of? Why is her band a drummer, and a guy with a mac book pro? I can't tell what she's singing about. Oh wait, theres a guy with a keyboard now. I didn't notice him at first.

Bjork looks like my mom after an all night coke bender when I was a kid. That's right mom, I know you used to do coke.

Fuck yes, new Heroes on tomorrow night.

Weekend update is on now.

I'm really annoyed at the way Will Forte looks.

I haven't laughed since the Roy Rules bit. This is a fucking abortion. Thank god, a commercial break.

I was thinking about something today. The majority, and I'm talking the VAST fucking majority of peopl... nevermind SNL is back on. What the fuck is this awkwardness? A bit about Total Recall? This bit is like 15 years too late. UGH. -5. Oh, they broke out the puke machines. Now two other people are inexplicably on stage, puking.

Oh great, SNL is back again... Ok, so I get the jist behind this one. It's one of those awful viral video shows, but as a a serious news cast. This was a good idea, but it isn't working. I'm annoyed.

Awesome, commercial break. How much longer do I have of this shit? *hits info on the remote* 15 minutes left. I can't believe it. I'm making it. I fucking committed to this thing, and I'm watching the fucking shit out of this god damned show. An hour and a half of this fucking mediocrity.

OOOh tv fun house. It's a Gigantor spoof. Old ass anime creeps me out so fucking much. Holy shit, ok, that's the 3rd Youtube joke tonight, in as many skits. I'm praying for piano music. Please, after this commercial. Come on piano music.

Shit, Bjork, I should have fucking known. Musical guests always get 2 songs, unless you're watching the reruns on E!. God, this is so awful. Crazy art school chick music. Might as well have Ani defuckignFranco on, with Johnny Depp as the host. Even though I absolutely LOVE crazy art school girls, they're my personal favorite. Their typical choice in music, though... not so much. This shit needs to get the fuck off my lawn.

Maybe if I were high, I'd digg this sound. Yeah, I bet that's it. I need a quarter of kush.

You know, its pretty fucking hard to make something that's not entertaining to someone who's living in Missouri. I mean, I'm sitting here writing a blog in real time to the fucking show. That's how damn bored I am. Yes, piano music. I did it. I made it through.

Overall, the show gets a -4, it got 2 laughs out of me, got a -5 on the awful Total Recall skit, and another -1 for the Bjork bullshit. The only reason it only got a -1 is because I have a sneaking suspicion that my wife enjoyed it, so that's something at least.

And with that, I'm done. Some weird no limit texas holdem show is on. That means its time to turn the channel.

This is part of one of those weird chain letter deals, but I refuse to partake in the forwarding of such. However, I thought that it would be a good excersize to do, so lets do this fucking thing.

------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ -----

1. My dad thinks my wife is Chinese for some reason.

2. I really fucking like lima beans. As in, they're my favorite vegetable.

3. I mangle Sinatra's "My Way" everytime I shower, loudly. It usually turns into "Mack the Knife" through some strange concatenation.

4. I'm a sharp shooter with bottle rockets.

5. I experiment with my own slang dialect.

6. I taught my grandma how to make eggs over easy, my grandpa sincerely thanked me.

7. I have a secret obsession with Trigonometry

8. I can't tell the difference between purple and blue.

9. For some reason, I absolutely can not miss any movie starring Adam Sandler, nor any of the Happy Madison crew.

10. After 15 years of trying, I finally beat Final Fantasy 1 and Dragon Warrior in the summer of '04. Who the fuck woulda known that all it took was a 13 hour flight to Korea.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

First, the header file

//Name: Jimmy Ecker
//Date: March 8, 2007
//Purpose: Manage Bobblehead Database

#ifndef HW6_H
#define HW6_H

#include
using namespace std;

const int ARRAYSIZE = 100;

struct bobble
{
string name, authenticity;
double value, bobbleCoefficient;
};

void greetings ();
.r{}

void goodbyes ();
.r{}

bobble makeBobble(string name, double value, double bobbleCoefficient, string authenticity);
.r{}

char mainMenu (char& userChoice);
.r{}

void listBobbles(bobble bobbleArray[], int);
.r{}

void deleteBobble(bobble bobbleArray[], int numInCollection);
.r{}

bool validChoice (char userChoice);
.r{}

#endif

Then, the CPP

//Name: Jimmy Ecker
//Date: March 8, 2007
//Class: CS 53 Section B
//Purpose: Manage Bobblehead Database

#include "hw6.h"
#include

void greetings()
{
cout << endl << endl << "Welcome to Bob's BoBblemanical Bobblehead Management Solution!";
return;
}

void goodbyes()
{
cout << endl;
cout << "I went to all this trouble to write your code and you want to quit?" << endl;
cout << endl;
cout << "Thank you for using my software and have a BoBbletastic day!" << endl << endl;
return;
}

char mainMenu(char& userChoice)
{
do
{
cout << endl << "What would you like to do today?"<< endl;
cout << "1. (D)isplay a listing of the bobbleheads in your collection"<< endl;
cout << "2. (A)dd a bobblehead to your collection"<< endl;
cout << "3. (R)emove a bobblehead from your collection"<< endl;
cout << "4. (Q)uit"<< endl;
cout << endl;
cout << "Choose your Destiny: ";
cin >> userChoice;
if (!validChoice(userChoice))
{
cout << endl << "*** Check your choice, it should correspond..n"
<< "*** with the number or first letter of..n"
<< "*** the operation you wish to execute." << endl;
}
} while (!validChoice(userChoice));
return userChoice;
}

bool validChoice (char userChoice)
{
return (userChoice == '1' || userChoice =='d' || userChoice == 'D' || userChoice == '2'
|| userChoice =='a' || userChoice == 'A' || userChoice == '3' || userChoice =='r'
|| userChoice == 'R' || userChoice == '4' || userChoice =='q' || userChoice =='Q');
}


bobble makeBobble(string name, double value, double bobbleCoefficient, string authenticity)
{
bobble newBobble;
newBobble.name = name;
newBobble.value = value;
newBobble.bobbleCoefficient = bobbleCoefficient;
newBobble.authenticity = authenticity;
return newBobble;
}

void listBobbles(bobble bobbleArray[], int numInCollection)
{
if (numInCollection > 0)
{
for (int i = 0; i < numInCollection; i++)
{
cout << setiosflags(ios::fixed)
<< setprecision(2);
cout << endl << i + 1 << ". " << bobbleArray[i].name << ", $" << bobbleArray[i].value << ", bobble coefficient of " << bobbleArray[i].bobbleCoefficient << ", " << bobbleArray[i].authenticity << endl;
}
}
else
cout << endl << "You dont have a collection recorded, make one!" << endl;
}
void deleteBobble(bobble bobbleArray[], int numInCollection)
{
int theLoser;
cout << endl << "Deleting an Item" << endl;
if (numInCollection > 0)
{
for (int i = 0; i < numInCollection; i++)
{
cout << endl << i + 1 << ". " << bobbleArray[i].name << ", $" << bobbleArray[i].value << ", bobble coefficient of " << bobbleArray[i].bobbleCoefficient << ", " << bobbleArray[i].authenticity << endl;
}
cout << endl;
do
{
cout << endl << "Which Item Would You Like To Take Out Of Your Collection? ";
cin >> theLoser;
if (theLoser > 0 && theLoser < numInCollection)
{
for (int i = theLoser - 1; i < numInCollection; i++)
bobbleArray[i] = bobbleArray[i + 1];
}
else
cout << endl << "***Check your choice, it should correspond..n " "with"
<< " the number of the item in the list.***" << endl;
} while (theLoser == 0 || theLoser > numInCollection);
}
else
cout << "You dont have a collection recorded, make one!" << endl;
return;
}

and last but not least, the main

//Name: Jimmy Ecker
//Date: March 8, 2007
//Class: CS 53 Section B
//Purpose: Manage Bobblehead Database

#include "hw6.h"

int main ()
{
//declarations
bobble bobbleArray[ARRAYSIZE];
char userChoice, authenticityInput;
string name, authenticity;
double value, bobbleCoefficient;
bool quit = false;
int numInCollection = 0;
//output
greetings();
do
{
cout << endl;
userChoice = mainMenu (userChoice);
switch (userChoice)
{
case '1':
case 'd':
case 'D':
cout << endl << "Displaying Your Collection" << endl;
listBobbles(bobbleArray, numInCollection); //displays list of collection
break;
case '2':
case 'a':
case 'A':
//promtps and readins for new bobble
cout << endl << "Adding a New Bobblehead" << endl;
cout << endl << "Please enter the bobble's name: ";
cin >> name;
do
{
cout << endl << "Please enter the bobble's value: ";
cin >>value;
if (value < 0 || value > 1500000)
cout << endl << "Whoa, check that amount and try again." << endl;
} while (value <0 || value > 1500000); //range check for value
do
{
cout << endl << "Please enter the bobble's bobble coefficient: ";
cin >> bobbleCoefficient;
if (bobbleCoefficient < 0 || bobbleCoefficient > 1)
cout << endl << "Are you sure about that bobble coefficient?" << endl;
} while (bobbleCoefficient < 0 || bobbleCoefficient > 1); //range check for bobbleCoefficient
do
{
cout << endl << "Is this bobble authentic? Y or N: ";
cin >> authenticityInput;
switch (authenticityInput)
{
case 'y':
case 'Y':
authenticity = "authentic";
break;
case 'n':
case 'N':
authenticity = "bootleg";
break;
default:
cout << endl << "Please use either Y or N keys" << endl;
}
} while (!(authenticityInput == 'y' || authenticityInput == 'Y' || authenticityInput == 'n'
|| authenticityInput == 'N')); //range check for authenticityInput
bobbleArray[numInCollection] = makeBobble(name, value, bobbleCoefficient, authenticity); //places new bobble into bobbleArray
numInCollection++;
break;
case '3':
case 'r':
case 'R':
deleteBobble(bobbleArray, numInCollection);
numInCollection--;
break;
case '4':
case 'q':
case 'Q':
quit = true;
}
} while (!(quit));
goodbyes();
return 0;
}

Yo ho ho and a bottle brass monkey. I need sleep but have to go to class in a bit.

It's 2:13 am and there's a part of me that wants to throw my laptop against the wall.

That part of me is very fucking submissive to another, greater part of me.

The latter part of me is addicted to what engineers since Ancient Greece have called the "Eureka" moment. It's that moment when, through all the hard work, the trial and error, the 2 or 3 times you go back to the drawing board everything comes together and works. It all fucking works. It's got to be something akin to what a heroine user feels the first time using. They get fucking sick, uncomfortable, shaky. But then they feel that high, and they're hooked forever; always chasing that high again.

The compiler keeps spitting error messages at me. It's trying its best to let me know what I did wrong.

I go back, re-write my code, save, compile.

There it is again; that fucking error message. Only this time it's accompanied by a few more. These are weird ones you can't really decipher - parse errors. The kind that takes a guy whose been writing code his entire life to know what they mean. Those code gurus, with their short sleeved button up shirts and the pizza gut and the beard.

I just started my beard. The gut came pre-installed. The shirt is non-standard compared to those who came before me, as is the flavor of my generation of technologist.

A normal person would succumb to that part of themselves that want to give up; they don't understand what it feels like to get your creation going. To give your code life. It's the difference between having someone else make your computer do something, and you making your computer do something.

Somewhere there's a guy waiting outside a mechanic's shop for his car, and another guy is driving past in his mint Hemi Charger smiling at him. It's that ancient smile that places the former into a lower caste within the tribe.

It's right there, and I fucking know it. Somethings fucked up with the syntax, but after hours of staring at a glowing monitor it's all starting to meld together. 9 times out of 10 it's a missing semicolon. This time it was a missing bracket.

Save, compile, eureka.

A few chairs to my right a guy yells out "no, no, no, why won't you work!" and slams his keyboard a few times.

I give him that ancient smile, pack up and leave for a night's sleep. I'll make sure to help him tomorrow, but I have to keep up my own place in the tribe.

So on Tuesday, I wake up at my usual 7 am, take a shower, shave, drink a cup o' coffee... fuck, who cares.

Anyway, I leave to go to class. I walk up to campus, make it most of the way to the Comp Sci building, and am promptly stopped by what can only be described as a mustache with an automatic rifle.

Immediately I assume that this is it. I'm in the middle of some Red Dawn shit, and this guy is obviously a Soviet Spetznaz guy whose sole mission is to destroy wholesome middle American life. But, just as I'm making plans to gather a rag tag group of students and haul ass into the hills, armed with hunting rifles and a picture of Ronald Regan, I am told that campus is closed due to a security situation.

Don't give me that look. Everyone who has any memory of the mid 80's had the same shit going on in their head.

So there I was, the unknowing victim of a terrorist attack, up at 8 am with a backpack full of finished homework and nowhere to go but home.

See how I slid in that terrorist attack gimmick? That's called foreshadowing. Yeah, I'm that fucking good.

Anyhow, so I go back home and get on the interwebs so I can find out what was going on. The story was all over the news, but they didn't know anymore than I did. Something was going on in Rolla, campus was closed, and it was under lock down by law enforcement.

So I get on the school's unofficial message board, and its absolutely a buzz over all the excitement. Tales of sleeper cells being activated in order to destroy the valuable infrastructure of a tier 3 (if we're fucking lucky) school in Missouri are being posted. Concerns over the nuclear reactor, hostages, and mooninites are being shared. Lewis Black jokes about Rolla being afraid of anthrax are being cited. It was fucking chaos, let me tell you. Traumatic even. Think Waco circa 1993.

I was panic stricken about my trying situation, having to endure freeze packed coffee and a slightly warm apartment. Hey, whats that thing called? A dangling modifier? I love those.

I finally understood what people in places like Isreal and Iraq go through. I just couldn't believe that I wasn't able to get any Starbucks this morning, or thumb through the New York Times. No, I had to sit there stuck in my apartment, watching stuff I had on the DVR.

Somewhere between the Daily Show and Futurama I caught the news conference from Rolla City Hall. Finally, information to help me get through this nightmare situation. Appearently there was a student who threatened to blow up the civil engineering building, engaged the police, and threw white powder around. There were 23 people under quarantine. The FBI, Homeland Security, Missouri Highway Patrol, and U.S. Army were there to handle the situation.

A reporter asked, gently, if the suspect was an international student. The guy from Rolla PD said yes. No one said anything about the reactor. The 7th Civil Support Group was being called in to test for possible anthrax hazards.

Oh noes!

Then 4 hours later it was common knowlege that some Indian guy freaked out over his first bad grade, wanted to commit suicide by cop, powdered sugar got thrown around, and I found out that the school's police department has a sweet ass Camaro for a squad car.



Who'd a fucking thought.

I have two strange hits from places that I can't figure out where in the fuck they came from.

1) Christmas, Fl

Who in the hell is looking at my profile, and why do they live in Christmas fucking Florida, of all places?

2) Arlington, Va

What? Is this because Grand Master Wainwright wants to meet the unknown soldier? Is the CIA looking at my site? Am I secretly a gov't agent and they're keeping up with my whereabouts, waiting until the opportune time to turn on the chip they put in me that activates a pre-embedded mission of importance to national security?

Really, who the fuck is looking at my profile from Arlington, Va and Christmas, Fl? Random people aren't supposed to be able to see my profile.

Paranoia is a hell of a neurosis.