Just a quick picture of Livia sleeping. She's the bee's knees.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Update #2
The great news: I've finally gotten a handle on my Computability class. It took a new book from the library and a few hours reviewing an old proof, but I think I understand whats going on at a deeper level.
The good news: Halloween is tomorrow. I'll be going to the parade with Alicia, but we didn't manage to figure out a costume. We've been thinking about it since September, but nothing came to fruition.
The bad news: Guitar Hero: World Tour isn't great. GH:WT is the newest Guitar Hero game, and it expands the game to include drums and vocals. I was really upset with Guitar Hero 3, so I rented GH:WT. While things have improved significantly, the game still gets tedious. By that, I mean:
- It seems the makers make music harder than it should be.
- There are some bad choices of music included in the game. Songs like "Beat It" by Michael Jackson are fun, but not good for a music game (the notes just repeat over and over... it gets boring).
- There's in game advertising. Nothing upsets me more than when I see a billboard for AT&T Wireless in my video game. It's distracting, and it makes me wonder why they still charge full price. I know it is inevitable that advertising will creep into video games, but I don't have to like it.
- The characters are butt-ugly.
- Alicia says the singing is bad. She's an excellent singer (She's about as good as it gets on Rock Band), but Guitar Hero: World Tour says she is failing on songs she knows. What this tells me is they didn't perfect the singing part of the game.
- The loading and saving still sucks. After each set list, saving takes what seems like more than a full minute.
What I've thought about: Internet radio. I've always listened to Minnesota Public Radio over the internet, and I've always enjoyed it, even here in New York. But now Alicia is working at a computer for 8 hours a day, so she's using internet radio, too. She says New York Public Radio is good as well. So now I feel obligated to try it out.
What I've enjoyed: Cost Co. I found out there is a Cost Co. in Brooklyn, so I made my way there (I have to take a subway, walk two blocks, take a second subway, walk two more blocks). It was initially worried that it wouldn't be worth my $50 for membership. My worries were eradicated when I saw the food section. Holy cow. SUCH GOOD FOOD! Meat and vegetables are much nicer than my neighborhood grocery stores. I can buy great frozen food that is much cheaper than eating out. I think I'll be saving a ton of money now.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Onion News Network
Holy cow, I've forgotten how funny the Onion is:
Extreme Weather Alert: Meteorologists Predict Intensely Brisk Autumn
Extreme Weather Alert: Meteorologists Predict Intensely Brisk Autumn
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Death and Taxes
Today's my first Saturday that I don't have to run out and teach. I'm squandering it by surfing the internet.
But this caught my attention: Death and Taxes. It's a giant map of the discretionary funding of the United States of America. If you visit the website, you can scroll around and read all the agencies and sub-agencies that receive 200 million or more.
I feel like I learned something today! I had no idea how little money the FCC gets. I had no idea how much it costs our country for Air traffic organization.
Now you'll know, too!
Friday, October 24, 2008
Bacon Salt
Why would you have fries if you could have bacon fries??
What a good question. I love the company's motto: Everything should taste like bacon.
Even though I haven't tried it personally, I can't endorse this product enough.
[www.baconsalt.com]
Keeping in contact has never been easier
I understand the internet is scary . . .
But it has never been easier to maintain a presence on the internet in your own way. Besides Facebook and MySpace, there are many other possibilities.
The oldest internet technology is email. It would be easy enough to collect a bunch of email addresses of friends and family and send out a Newsletter.
I've already exulted the virtues of Google Reader, but I will mention that the Google Reader Shared Items feature can be used as a blog. It is much, much easier than creating your own Blogger account (which is pretty easy, too). Google Reader has a "Note" feature, which is basically a blog post without a website you've shared (to put this in laymans terms, you can just write something).
If you don't want to use Google Reader, you can simply sign up for Twitter and start tweeting immediately. There's a ton of people to follow, such as celebrities, etc. Even CNN was reading tweets on their broadcast of the Presidential Debates.
The only reason I'm pushing is that it is fun to read about people in your life. Alicia's got her blog, as do both her sisters Stacey and Vanessa. Alicia's friend Nicole maintains a Google Reader shared items page.
That's about all I've got on the internet. I'd love to add to my list! But that's up to you, isn't it?
But it has never been easier to maintain a presence on the internet in your own way. Besides Facebook and MySpace, there are many other possibilities.
The oldest internet technology is email. It would be easy enough to collect a bunch of email addresses of friends and family and send out a Newsletter.
I've already exulted the virtues of Google Reader, but I will mention that the Google Reader Shared Items feature can be used as a blog. It is much, much easier than creating your own Blogger account (which is pretty easy, too). Google Reader has a "Note" feature, which is basically a blog post without a website you've shared (to put this in laymans terms, you can just write something).
If you don't want to use Google Reader, you can simply sign up for Twitter and start tweeting immediately. There's a ton of people to follow, such as celebrities, etc. Even CNN was reading tweets on their broadcast of the Presidential Debates.
The only reason I'm pushing is that it is fun to read about people in your life. Alicia's got her blog, as do both her sisters Stacey and Vanessa. Alicia's friend Nicole maintains a Google Reader shared items page.
That's about all I've got on the internet. I'd love to add to my list! But that's up to you, isn't it?
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Grad School Report
Ofda.
Grad school is in full swing. I've got the feeling I could study 16 hours a day and still not get everything I want to done. I suppose that's what I'm supposed to be feeling.
Yesterday, I learned something about graduate school professors: they have much less responsibility to the student. This isn't to say they don't care. But, here's a quote from one of my professors last night:
He finally nodded his head, told us the above quote, and proceeded to erase the other half of the board and continue lecturing.
Well, some of my other professors make a lot of sense now. Viewed in the light of this lower burdon, perhaps some of my other professors aren't as bad as I thought they might be.
I don't agree with the notion that it isn't the responsibility of the professor to make the students understand. I certainly cover the same material two, three, or even more times to make sure my students have a firm grasp.
I do understand this teaching philosophy, though. There is only so much a professor can explain within the class period, and a graduate student does need to spend a lot of time going through it on his or her own.
Well, I went to the library and grabbed two more books. I'll be spending the next few hours trying to figure it out. So it goes, I suppose.
Grad school is in full swing. I've got the feeling I could study 16 hours a day and still not get everything I want to done. I suppose that's what I'm supposed to be feeling.
Yesterday, I learned something about graduate school professors: they have much less responsibility to the student. This isn't to say they don't care. But, here's a quote from one of my professors last night:
"I guess this is the point the professor tells the class it makes sense to him and moves on."The class had been working on a complicated proof and everyone sat silently, trying to write as much down as they could. I was pretty lost. The professor was talking out what was happening, trying to make sure he had it right.
He finally nodded his head, told us the above quote, and proceeded to erase the other half of the board and continue lecturing.
Well, some of my other professors make a lot of sense now. Viewed in the light of this lower burdon, perhaps some of my other professors aren't as bad as I thought they might be.
I don't agree with the notion that it isn't the responsibility of the professor to make the students understand. I certainly cover the same material two, three, or even more times to make sure my students have a firm grasp.
I do understand this teaching philosophy, though. There is only so much a professor can explain within the class period, and a graduate student does need to spend a lot of time going through it on his or her own.
Well, I went to the library and grabbed two more books. I'll be spending the next few hours trying to figure it out. So it goes, I suppose.
Blog Update
Three permanent additions to my blog:
1) I've added a status bar to the top. Nothing fancy, just some text above my posts to let you know what I've added.
I'm adding this because of my infrequent updates. As is typical, I might go two weeks without posting anything new. Then, when I sit down and write a lot, posts might get pushed down too low to notice.
Now, one quick visit to briancopeland.blogspot.com will inform you as to how new material has arrived.
This shouldn't be displayed to readers using my RSS feed, as you are already aware of how much I've updated.
2) I'm using Twitter. Twitter is the new rising star on the internet. Instead of writing long blog posts, internet users are "Tweeting," or writing a 140 character (or less) message and publishing it on their Twitter account. This is nearly the same as what other websites call "status," but the twitter posts (called "tweets") could be anything. They call it "microblogging," and it is much easier than regular blogging.
I'm using http://ping.fm/ to publish my Twitter'ing everywhere. Thus, if you follow me on Twitter, you'll see the same thing as my status listed on the right side of my blog. This will be the same as my MySpace profile and my Facebook status (to find me, search for cope0053@d.umn.edu).
3) Around the Internet is finalized. If you haven't noticed this section of my website, it is on the right hand side under my Status. It's basically displaying my Shared Items from Google Reader. So, if you aren't visiting my website, you could certainly subscribe to my Shared Items to see what links I've thought were cool. I usually include a description of the link through the Shared Items feed.
1) I've added a status bar to the top. Nothing fancy, just some text above my posts to let you know what I've added.
I'm adding this because of my infrequent updates. As is typical, I might go two weeks without posting anything new. Then, when I sit down and write a lot, posts might get pushed down too low to notice.
Now, one quick visit to briancopeland.blogspot.com will inform you as to how new material has arrived.
This shouldn't be displayed to readers using my RSS feed, as you are already aware of how much I've updated.
2) I'm using Twitter. Twitter is the new rising star on the internet. Instead of writing long blog posts, internet users are "Tweeting," or writing a 140 character (or less) message and publishing it on their Twitter account. This is nearly the same as what other websites call "status," but the twitter posts (called "tweets") could be anything. They call it "microblogging," and it is much easier than regular blogging.
I'm using http://ping.fm/ to publish my Twitter'ing everywhere. Thus, if you follow me on Twitter, you'll see the same thing as my status listed on the right side of my blog. This will be the same as my MySpace profile and my Facebook status (to find me, search for cope0053@d.umn.edu).
3) Around the Internet is finalized. If you haven't noticed this section of my website, it is on the right hand side under my Status. It's basically displaying my Shared Items from Google Reader. So, if you aren't visiting my website, you could certainly subscribe to my Shared Items to see what links I've thought were cool. I usually include a description of the link through the Shared Items feed.
Update #1
To try and give a glimpse into my day-to-day world, I'm going to attempt a systematic update every week (if not more!). To make it easy, I want questions that are easy to answer. Here are five that seem to have promise... I'd love other ideas in the comments, if you've got them.
The great news: Every semester, my teaching is evaluated. Basically, a full time professor sits in my class, then gives me notes afterwards. I was evaluated on Tuesday (10/21), and it went great. My lecture was on top form.
The good news: I'm done teaching my Saturday class. There was a debacle with attendance, but I no longer have work on Saturdays. Over all, I'll have made $450 pretax for teaching six consecutive Saturdays. Not bad.
The bad news: I haven't played Rock Band in three weeks. Too much to do. Doesn't sound like this will change anytime soon, as I'll be giving Midterms next week, which means more correcting.
What I've thought about: I can't figure out how to properly feed Livia. I don't want her getting fat (not that it would be the end of the world). The problem is that when I follow the diet recommendation on Livia's dry food, Livia wants food all day. She's constantly sniffing her bowl, then looking up at me. It breaks my heart, so I cave. Will she finally get used to one can of food in the morning, half a cup of dry food in the evening?
What I've enjoyed: Fringe is the only TV I've caught, but its enjoyable. It's no Sopranos, but it makes me happy on Tuesday... too bad we've got 3 weeks until new episodes.
The great news: Every semester, my teaching is evaluated. Basically, a full time professor sits in my class, then gives me notes afterwards. I was evaluated on Tuesday (10/21), and it went great. My lecture was on top form.
The good news: I'm done teaching my Saturday class. There was a debacle with attendance, but I no longer have work on Saturdays. Over all, I'll have made $450 pretax for teaching six consecutive Saturdays. Not bad.
The bad news: I haven't played Rock Band in three weeks. Too much to do. Doesn't sound like this will change anytime soon, as I'll be giving Midterms next week, which means more correcting.
What I've thought about: I can't figure out how to properly feed Livia. I don't want her getting fat (not that it would be the end of the world). The problem is that when I follow the diet recommendation on Livia's dry food, Livia wants food all day. She's constantly sniffing her bowl, then looking up at me. It breaks my heart, so I cave. Will she finally get used to one can of food in the morning, half a cup of dry food in the evening?
What I've enjoyed: Fringe is the only TV I've caught, but its enjoyable. It's no Sopranos, but it makes me happy on Tuesday... too bad we've got 3 weeks until new episodes.
Livia is healthy!
As you may have read on Alicia's blog, Livia wasn't feeling very good after we brought her home.
But I'm happy to report Livia is fully healthy. Here's the story:
This is Livia on her way home from the shelter on Monday, October 5th. She seemed pretty lively when she got home, but perhaps a little weak. We blamed this on her operation, as she had just been spayed.
She was very cuddly, but not much for running around. Come Thursday, she starts sneezing. By Monday, Livia was sniffling and sneezing and sleeping all the time. So it was time for the vet.
I took Livia to the Vet on Monday, October 13th. He explained that shelters can do their best to keep the place clean, but when you get that many stray cats in one place, disease will spread. He'd even worked at the shelter we adopted Livia from.
He prescribed Livia amoxicillin, to be given twice a day. He also gave her two shots, to aleviate her congestion in her lungs. He mentioned that it might take a week until she stops sneezing.
The next few days were tough. Livia only seemed to get worse. Now, she was still eating and she was moving around a lot more; but she was really sneezing and sniffling. It took some faith in the vet that she really was getting better.
This was combined with the fear of allergies. The vet mentioned there was a slim possibility that Livia was allergic to something. Alicia was starting to catch something, so we were worried about Alicia being allergic as well.
To top it off, Alicia is allergic to penicillin. Livia had a tiny drop of amoxicillin on her chin, and when Alicia scratched her chin, the back of her hand broke out in hives.
But, rest assured, everything worked out. When Alicia got the hives on her hand, she washed her hands and it immediately went away. I became more careful giving Livia the amoxicillin (I wipe her chin off, too). Sure enough, she stopped sneezing by Monday.
Now, Livia's perfectly healthy. Here she is stretched out on the bed:
Alicia is healthy now, too. We've finally got a happy, healthy household.
But I'm happy to report Livia is fully healthy. Here's the story:
This is Livia on her way home from the shelter on Monday, October 5th. She seemed pretty lively when she got home, but perhaps a little weak. We blamed this on her operation, as she had just been spayed.
She was very cuddly, but not much for running around. Come Thursday, she starts sneezing. By Monday, Livia was sniffling and sneezing and sleeping all the time. So it was time for the vet.
I took Livia to the Vet on Monday, October 13th. He explained that shelters can do their best to keep the place clean, but when you get that many stray cats in one place, disease will spread. He'd even worked at the shelter we adopted Livia from.
He prescribed Livia amoxicillin, to be given twice a day. He also gave her two shots, to aleviate her congestion in her lungs. He mentioned that it might take a week until she stops sneezing.
The next few days were tough. Livia only seemed to get worse. Now, she was still eating and she was moving around a lot more; but she was really sneezing and sniffling. It took some faith in the vet that she really was getting better.
This was combined with the fear of allergies. The vet mentioned there was a slim possibility that Livia was allergic to something. Alicia was starting to catch something, so we were worried about Alicia being allergic as well.
To top it off, Alicia is allergic to penicillin. Livia had a tiny drop of amoxicillin on her chin, and when Alicia scratched her chin, the back of her hand broke out in hives.
But, rest assured, everything worked out. When Alicia got the hives on her hand, she washed her hands and it immediately went away. I became more careful giving Livia the amoxicillin (I wipe her chin off, too). Sure enough, she stopped sneezing by Monday.
Now, Livia's perfectly healthy. Here she is stretched out on the bed:
Alicia is healthy now, too. We've finally got a happy, healthy household.
New Look
Here's the new me:
Compare with the old me:
What's new? I've got new glasses and I've decided to forgo the beard.
It was quite nice shaving, actually. I haven't shaved with a standard razor since 2005~6. Up until about March, I'd been using (and loving) my Norelco Electric Razor. Around March of 2008, I decided the beard was for me.
Alicia likes the beard, but I wanted some smooth skin. The beard will most likely return, but not anytime soon (read: give me at least a week beardless).
Compare with the old me:
What's new? I've got new glasses and I've decided to forgo the beard.
It was quite nice shaving, actually. I haven't shaved with a standard razor since 2005~6. Up until about March, I'd been using (and loving) my Norelco Electric Razor. Around March of 2008, I decided the beard was for me.
Alicia likes the beard, but I wanted some smooth skin. The beard will most likely return, but not anytime soon (read: give me at least a week beardless).
Monday, October 13, 2008
Columbus Day
Happy Columbus Day!
I don't know about you, but I've got today off. It's the last day I've got off for awhile. (As you may recall, I've had 6 days off in the past three weeks).
I've still got a lot of work to do, so I can't blog too much. I plan on writing a bit tonight after Alicia gets home, so there will be more about Alicia's Birthday and other fun things that have happened in the past weeks.
For now, here's a picture of Alicia's new cat, Livia:
I don't know about you, but I've got today off. It's the last day I've got off for awhile. (As you may recall, I've had 6 days off in the past three weeks).
I've still got a lot of work to do, so I can't blog too much. I plan on writing a bit tonight after Alicia gets home, so there will be more about Alicia's Birthday and other fun things that have happened in the past weeks.
For now, here's a picture of Alicia's new cat, Livia:
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| From Brian Blogs in Brooklyn |
Monday, October 6, 2008
Alicia's first day!
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The tradition of taking a picture on the first day of school lives on. Here's Alicia on her first day of work last week. She looks happy because she was able to sleep in, her first day of work started at 10:55.
As for the job, she's loving it. She's joyfully employed by Bloomberg, a news and legal service started by the current mayor of New York City. She talks about it on her blog, Put on the Glasses.
Wedding Announcement
We've set a date and time!
On Saturday, August 15th, at 5pm, at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas, NV, I'll take Alicia's hand in marriage.
We've set up a website where you can get more information. Head over to:
http://copelandglaserwedding.blogspot.com/
for the wedding blog.
I'll try and drop a note here when big info is posted.
On Saturday, August 15th, at 5pm, at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas, NV, I'll take Alicia's hand in marriage.
We've set up a website where you can get more information. Head over to:
http://copelandglaserwedding.blogspot.com/
for the wedding blog.
I'll try and drop a note here when big info is posted.
Monday Morning
Alicia just went out the door, and it's 7am. I can't believe I've been getting up at 6am every morning (minus the weekends, of course). But it feels great. I'm already working, and there won't be any regrets today.
Last week feels like a phantom. I had Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off, and I feel as if I squandered them. I shouldn't feel that way, as I finally gave the apartment a good cleaning that was needed. I also corrected exams and relaxed. I guess I'm sorry to see it go.
The biggest disappointment was waking up on Monday to discover a cold. It was mostly gone by Thursday, and it is just barely lingering now. I can certainly blame my lazy week on the cold, but that doesn't make me feel any better. Oh well, it feels good to wake up healthy again.
But even if I'm not proud of last week, this week can certainly be redemption: I've got Wednesday and Thursday off. I know, I know, I can't believe how much time I've got off either. I've even got next week Monday off as well. Being a student is so lazy.
Last week feels like a phantom. I had Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off, and I feel as if I squandered them. I shouldn't feel that way, as I finally gave the apartment a good cleaning that was needed. I also corrected exams and relaxed. I guess I'm sorry to see it go.
The biggest disappointment was waking up on Monday to discover a cold. It was mostly gone by Thursday, and it is just barely lingering now. I can certainly blame my lazy week on the cold, but that doesn't make me feel any better. Oh well, it feels good to wake up healthy again.
But even if I'm not proud of last week, this week can certainly be redemption: I've got Wednesday and Thursday off. I know, I know, I can't believe how much time I've got off either. I've even got next week Monday off as well. Being a student is so lazy.
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