is my favorite comparative for the day.

My computer is here and is everything I ever dreamed of.  Well, except I didn't know that SLI and multiple monitors were not very good friends (a.k.a. mutually exclusive), so I'm either going to get an additional cheap-o GPU to support a second monitor, or I will selectively enable SLI only when I need it, or I will return the GPU or sell it to someone who wants one.  Anyone want an nVidia 9800 GTX 512 MB GPU?  It's freakin' amazing even by itself instead of SLI (my only test was Oblivion on max settings, but it smoked it).  I'll give you the same price for which I got it (which was actually a pretty darn good price) -- you save shipping. :D

Oh.  Four dogs and a cat are a lot to take care of.  Especially when they tear things apart when you aren't looking, pee multiple times on the carpet while you're taking care of the things they tore apart, bark at the neighbors (who already called animal control) while you're cleaning up the pee, and chase the cat out of the window while you're consoling the neighbors

Computer... arrives... in three days...

I'll be getting this computer in a few days:

nVidia 780i motherboard
Intel core 2 quad core 2.66 Ghz CPU
8 GB 1066 MHz memory
2x 500 GB (7200 RPM) HDD in RAID 1
Eventually 2x 300 GB 10000 RPM HDD in RAID 0 for primary disk
Twin nVidia geForce 9800 GTX 512MB GPU's in SLI for a total of 1 GB
Dual 22" monitors (eventually four, or maybe 2x22 and 2x24, as the SLI GPUs will support it)

Too bad I don't game. :(  Dev will be enjoyable, though.

After pulling one out, I've discovered that my eyelashes are each three different colors.  The portion nearest the eye is blonde, the middle is dark brown, and the outermost length is red. And they're long.

I just got done biking 26.2 miles.  Yes, that is precisely one marathon of bicycling.  Which crunches out to just over 1300 Calories, as CaloriesPerHour kindly tells me. 

I also made an air conditioner today.  I got a robust fan, 20 feet of vinyl tubing, and some zip ties at Fred Meyer last night to perform the deed.  I coiled the middle-section of the vinyl tubing around the back of the fan in a spiral fashion, draped one end out over the balcony, and dipped the other end into a 25 gallon plastic tote.  (I duct-taped that end of the tubing to a can of Clam Chowder I had sitting around so that it would stay at the bottom.)  I then filled the tote with cold water (I play with ice water tomorrow, as I filled a bunch of bottles that were sitting in my recycling with water and stuck them in the freezer to serve as reusable ice cubes), started a siphon off the end of the balcony, and voila!  I have a water-cooling-aided fan/makeshift air conditioner.  It actually works, too, believe it or not.  So I don't have to start the siphon again, I stuffed the end of a plastic coat hanger into the outside end of the tubing to plug it up.  I'm not sure I conceptualized the physics exactly correctly, but I believe that it will start again once I pull the plug back out.

Today I also did some work for Jack over at TrackMy--I'm just about done with my projects with him, which wraps up a nice 3-week stint for this summer.  Unfortunately, yesterday I discovered that he wanted all of my coding over the last two weeks to be in Visual Basic, whereas I had done it all in C#.  It proved to be somewhat of a boo-boo all-in-all, and three hours of non-billed time later I had ~2000 lines fixed up all nice and tidy for him.  VB is so weird. 

I ate at Little Thai twice today.  I guess I'm making up for having not been there for two weeks while I was in Spokane.  I'm fairly confident they slip some traces of some kind of addictive substance into their pahd/phad/pud Thai.  Oh, it turns out I'm designing a website for them.  I was concerned they would want a supreme discount (which would explain partly why they went through me) but they agreed to mostly professional rates, which is pretty cool.  I say mostly, because they want to convert part of it into food trade.  I haven't talked to them about whether they would do full menu price for that trade or whether it would have some kind of discount, but I don't mind that option since I eat there so darn much anyways.

By Tim's request, I'm posting the personal statement I wrote for potential admission to Computer Science.  I'm concerned that it might be a touch pompous or braggy.  Oh well, if they think so, I guess I just won't get in.  My GPA isn't horrendous, by the way--in fact, I think it's quite good (although it has been declining consistently every quarter...)  I get the sense they don't like anything lower than like a 3.7, and it's a little bit lower than that, for reference. 

I have tasted many varieties of success and failures in my life, but those marked by unorthodoxy are those which I have held most dear, those from which I have learned the greatest lessons, and those from which I have felt the greatest rewards and consequences.  Indeed, unorthodoxy is a prevalent theme in my life, affecting every facet from friendship to free time, to academics, to professional endeavors.   I have found that since I was very young, I have never done anything just because everyone else seems to be doing it or because someone says to do it.  I have always taken most information and perceptions with a grain of salt so to speak, and in so conceptualizing everything instead of simply assimilating everything, I have found instrumental advantages in achieving many tasks.  For example, when architecting software for businesses and clients, I do not think on the level necessarily of existing design schemas, but on the level of creating an optimized schema that specifically suits the needs of that client.  By not embedding myself in orthodoxy, I am able to abstract myself from the project and generate a user interface that is natural, human and new, or tiers of back-end logic that are reasonable and scalable for a specific project and not the kind of solution that can be pulled out of a book.  I believe this is where the greatest creativity lies:  in not necessarily ignoring that which is standard, but in not making that the first source of reference—doubting that the status quo is ideal is the first step towards achieving progress.

Experience has shown me that I am fortunate in the realm of being able to set and achieve goals.  When I was in the fourth grade, one of our school district’s high school valedictorians came to speak to our class.  I decided right then that I was going to be a valedictorian when I graduated from high school, and eight years later I achieved that goal.  When I was in seventh grade and first took the SAT, I decided that by the time I was done with high school I was going to get a perfect score, and four years later, I did.  When I ‘came out of the closet’ in 11^th grade and began to feel hostility from some classmates and even teachers (Spokane is somewhat more conservative than Seattle) I decided that I would start a student-run Gay-Straight Alliance, and by the end of the next year, the club was meeting weekly with over 50 members.  Along with these achievements came such perks as various scholarships for college and all sorts of other academic and professional offers.  I was recognized as the top student in Spokane County separately in the areas of Math and English through the Spokane Scholars program and I received sizeable monetary grants for those distinctions.  The United States Government awarded me with a distinction as one of the top 550 students in the nation through the Presidential Scholars program.  I accepted the full-ride offer from the state of Washington through the Washington Scholars program for the University of Washington, and at the same time I began exploring part-time work with software engineering companies. 

As I have been going to college, my goals have begun to change.  Looking back at transcripts exhibiting eight straight years of 4.0’s, I decided that I was going to seek greater balance in my life:  in addition to concentrating on academics, I would divide myself into developing professional, social, and spiritual aspects of myself as well.  I have found invaluable founts of knowledge and learning in these realms:  even though my college GPA has been proceeding to be less than might perhaps be the ideal for admission to the school of Computer Science, I hope that holistic consideration can be given to these other areas of my development.  Consider, for example, that I have worked my way professionally over the last two years to the point of earning $50.00 per hour working as a software developer and architect for NASDAQ, or that I consistently work out to keep healthy and to keep my body in good shape, or that I have close-knit circles of friends who are present to give and share emotional and tangible support at any time.  I know how to work hard, and I know how to have fun.  I know how to sit down face-to-face and work out projects with CEOs of multi-million dollar companies, and I know how to plan a bike ride and a picnic with friends.  I understand that this admissions process is selecting students for admission to an academic program, so I understand the logic in selecting students based on academic prowess, but I feel that over the last many years I had demonstrated my abilities to achieve academically.  Now I am working on my abilities to achieve in life, and I very firmly believe that life success lies in balance, not in focusing solely on one facet of development.  Even if developing these other areas will ultimately impact my ability, for example, to gain admission to the University of Washington College of Computer Science and Engineering, I will have no regrets that I have diversified my efforts, because I can already feel the better effects on my overall well-being compared to when my efforts were purely academic. 

My future goals professionally speaking are firmly aimed toward entrepreneurial activities.  I intend to start a business by the time I am done with college—I am keeping notebooks of ideas that I generate almost daily for inventions and business ideas, waiting for one that seems apt enough in which to begin investing years of my life.  I already have business connections in place ready to be investors, partners, and employees.  As I am so steeped currently in the area of computer science, I expect that the knowledge gained from the school of Computer Science and Engineering could be instrumental in these endeavors.  One more point of interest here is that my first priority in what I would like to gain from this school is the knowledge, and that secondary to that is the degree.  I do not want the degree in order to get a job; I want the knowledge so that I can fortify my abilities to succeed independently.  This, to me, is what education really is at its very core:  not to be able to reiterate what a teacher has taught or a book has instructed, but to be able to take that knowledge and to create something new from it.

 Oh, one more thing:  Today is Happy Nine Months for Tim and Me! <3

Hello!

I'm back in Spokane right now, for about a week longer (I'll be heading back to Seattle in time for Pride next Sunday.)  I've moved into a new apartment in Seattle, a 2-bed, 2-bath apartment.  It's substantially nicer than my apartment last year, and currently I'm in it sans roommates, which is also very nice.  I'm paying $875/mo. instead of $1500 as they were originally asking, but that's just for the summer.  If they will extend anything like that into the school year, I'll have it made.  I'm looking for a roommate just to defray cost, but it's not a huge priority.

I'm working for Jack with TrackMy for the two weeks that I'm here, and then I'm heading back to Seattle and working with Personify for the rest of the summer.  I managed to come down with some sort of terrible-feeling illness the day I had to move--it was very hard to breathe and my lungs had a lot of fluid in them.  The only reason I managed to make the move at all was thanks to Bill's help.  He's a delightful friend.

I'm on a two-week experiment while I'm home:  I'm lifting weights intensively every day, I'm eating almost exclusively healthy foods, and I'm jogging/bike riding as much as I can.  I'm also getting some sun when the opportunity arises.  My goal is to see how much of a difference I can make to my body over two weeks for when I get back to Seattle.

I ended up getting that iPod.  I got it the day that Brandon's (roommate's) parents were over helping him move.  I went with Tim to stand on a street corner on the Ave where I was planning on meeting with the guy who was going to sell me the iPod.  Brandon and his parents apparently walked by across the street from where we were standing (I did not see them, but he told me later) and his parents inquired "Isn't that Zack?  What's he doing standing on that street corner?"  Brandon jokingly answered "Oh, probably making a drug deal."  Right as he said this, I pulled out the wad of cash I had and counted it out to prepare for the iPod sale.  Brandon's parents responded with a surprised "Oh," and they proceeded to get their lunch.

Done with the school year.  As of roughly 10:00 this morning when I walked out of my German final, I have had a profoundly lightening sense of relief.  I'll be finding out from Richard sometime in the next few days regarding the BoomBoom opportunity, and I still have the options of TrackMy and Personify.  I am interested in the apartment building next to mine, and when I last checked there was one available room left.  I hope it hasn't disappeared.

I spoke with my mother today, who did not seem riveted with the idea of me staying in Seattle, but she is supportive nonetheless.  I also spoke with my dad on Friday, and he was very excited about the opportunities I have right now.

I'm mostly just anxious to hear from Richard -- this seems like such an excellent opportunity!  Arghlebargle.

 Oh, I'm getting a new iPod tomorrow.  Craigslist ad for a new-in-box 16GB touch...  I was torn between the 16 and the 160 classic (both were similar prices on CL from two different people) but I decided some of the perks of the touch will just make it worthwhile, and I can always cycle music out.  Plus, I've been living with a 256 MB card in my PSP as a makeshift player, and I can definitely make due with roughly 64 times that capacity.  I'm getting the Touch for $250, which I figure is a pretty good deal for NIB, as it retails for ~$400.

So I'll do another quick update.

Two more days of class (including two finals tomorrow) and then one final on Saturday and then I'M DONE WITH THIS SCHOOL YEAR!  That feels good, as I think there's been some dragging of feet going on.

As far as summer goes, my de facto plans were to head back to Spokane, but I was offered a rather generous offer from Personify here in Seattle, and it's tempting to take them up on that.  I would receive a substantial raise, I would work on billable projects, I would work full-time, and I would work directly with clients... but I wouldn't be able to be home for the summer.

Option B is heading back to Spokane (which means getting to see family, and also free housing), and working with Jack with TrackMy again.  This pay is about the same as Personify (give or take), AND I would get to work remotely, but it would not be as strong of a learning experience, and it wouldn't be in a collaborative environment... and it wouldn't be in Seattle.

Option C is the one-day-old wild card, and it's really up in the air, but it is definitely the most exciting.  On Friday (due to random series of connections... these things just happen, I guess) I'm meeting with the guy who invented Cranium the board game who sold his company and has moved on to a new one.  It seems that he's looking for a web developer for this new company, and I'd like to think that I might fit the bill.  Plus, this guy apparently rolls with the big guys--he's a phone call away from the CEOs of Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, etc.  This would be an excellent resource for some of my own entrepreneurial endeavors, and he himself would at least be an excellent contact.  Plus, this has the potential to pay more toward the full professional realm (if I dare to be optimistic.)

I'll find out in 36 hours how exactly this one is going to play out... but it sure is fun to hope on this one.

Oh, by the way, the company's name is BoomBoom, and this guy's official title is not CEO, or President, or Founder, or anything really mundane like that.  His title is "Chief BoomBoom."  A bit of research tells me that his title back with Cranium was "Grand Pooh-Bah."  I already cannot imagine how cool this guy is going to be.  I'll be sure to update as I know more.

This weekend harbored both the Seattle Cheese Festival downtown and the University District Street Fair, both with approximately the same hours on both Saturday and Sunday.  With Folk Life coming up next weekend, I think I might be just about festival’d out pretty soon.  I went to the Cheese Festival with Nadine, Ryan, Kevin, Kelsey, Lorraine (is that how you spell your name, Lorraine?  My most sincere apologies if I got it wrong), and Tim.  The Cheese Festival is Pike Place Market being FULL of all sorts of little cheese vendors… giving out FREE SAMPLES.  By the end of the day, of course, I could not imagine ingesting any more dairy for quite a while (I did get gelato and bubble tea afterwards, just to spite myself), but the CHEESE.  WAS.  DELICIOUS.  I ended up getting some delicious goat cheeses (they were my favorites of the mid-double-digits number of cheeses that we tried.

Whilst we were at the market just about to leave, a beer bottle fell from the sky and nearly killed a child.  It did puncture one man’s foot.

We then went and took a brief break, as I wanted to show off Personify’s office to my dear cohorts.  Oh, by the way, the weather was somewhere near 90°, if not over.  I know it was 86° when I checked later that day, and I’m pretty sure it had been hotter earlier.

After a trip back the U-District with auspicious plans to do the U-District Street Fair back-to-back with the cheese festival, we split up and took naps.  Tim and I later in the evening had a LAN party with a few acquaintances of his at the dorms.  We spent about an hour trying to figure out silly networking issues, and after we had just about given up, we finally figured out that our issue was due to the fact that we were not, in fact, playing the same game. (Brood War vs. Starcraft)…  Sigh…

Today I got to see Goat for a little bit in the early afternoon, then I hung out with Tim and Kevin (another one, not Chu) at the U-District Street Fair for a little bit and then Tim and I went to join Nadine-Ryan-Andrew-Kelsey-Kevin at Greenlake.  After Tim’s and my failed bouts at sun-tanning (the sun had about given up by the time we got there, but we gave it our best effort anyways), we all went to Beth’s Café, one of those really seedy-looking places with horrendous service and fantastic food.  They included a mandatory 18% gratuity, but I found that I would have ended up tipping them more (I always tip at least $2.00, and the tacked-on gratuity was like $1.53) had they just let the tips be up to us.  The food really was delicious, though.  I had hash browns and a short stack of pancakes.

After a grand, hour-long-ish bus adventure to get back to the U-District, we all split up, I’ve cleaned my room, and now I’m writing a blog entry.

That’s my weekend!

Today was industrious.  I went to class, the bank, and the library, made an errand at Tim’s dorm, picked up lunch, baked some Double Peanut Butter Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Swirl Brownies for Jonathan Hallet’s birthday (yesterday) to take to him in class, went to class again, went to the IMA to play badminton and lift weights, came home to get dinner and take a nap, then had Tim and Ryan come over to work on their Political Science papers.

Today’s brownies turned out remarkably worse than previous iterations.  In a gesture of great self-responsibility, I choose to blame it on my oven.  I’ve always baked them in other people’s ovens prior to this, and my oven’s temperature is definitely off quite a bit (I’m guessing about 100° F) so that makes for crusty outsides and unbaked insides, such as what I had to give to Jonathan.  Fortunately, it was not too burned, and he seemed happy to receive it.

I went by myself to the IMA today, which I think is the first time I have ever done that, but I still wanted to play badminton.  I ventured into the badminton gym to see if there were any groups of three that would want a fourth for doubles.  Sure enough, there was a group of three Chinese people (who were very intimidatingly good), so I approached them.  I asked if they thought I could play with the person who was sitting out, and they thought that I was trying to kick them off the court or something, and they were just so nice but their English was not entirely perfect, so we had some difficulty communicating.  I figured this was a prime opportunity to use the little bit of Chinese I’ve picked up from Tim and Bill, so I got to say things like “Good!” and “Thank you!” and “Your mom is hungry” in applicable contexts.  This made me feel quite accomplished.  We played for about an hour together (I actually did pretty well with them, and the girl named Sarah on whose team I was playing kept saying “O-kay!” every time I made a good shot, which was very reminiscent of a Japanese tennis video game where I would expect the heavily accented “O-kay!” to accompany every ace serve.  I believe I would like this particular “O-kay!” to grace everything I do well in life, e.g. getting a test back with a 100% and an “O-kay!!” reverberates from the sky)

It occurs to me that I’m all out of vanilla extract.

OH!  I want to organize a flash mob group.  The term flash mob is starting to gain recognition, but in case you are unfamiliar with a flash mob, I use the term to loosely describe public pranking. Imagine, for example, that you are in some unsuspecting little store, like a Blockbuster or something, and suddenly within 30 seconds the store is filled with about 200 people.  Exactly 6 minutes later, all of those people are gone.  That is a generic flash mob:  just a large group of people organizing together to essentially put on an ad hoc show for all of the people unsuspecting of what’s going on.  A group called Improv Everywhere (www.improveverywhere.com) has done a number of epic ones.  One of my favorites is they organized for a whole bunch of people wearing bright blue polo shirts and khakis (the Best Buy uniform) to go into Best Buy and just stand around.  They also organized a similar number of men to go into the New York Abercrombie and Fitch with their shirts off and just stand around like the model (yes, apparently the NY A&F actually has a shirtless, live male model standing at the front door at all times).

A couple of other classics are organized pillow fights in unexpected places (e.g. at a mall or something similar), “Freezes,” which is where a large number of people will infiltrate some place like a grocery store and freeze completely still at exactly the same moment in a normal action-pose (e.g. getting a can of beans off of the shelf.)  The effect is tremendous, because it looks to anyone that is not involved like they have walked into some sort of time warp or something because so many people are so frozen.

Anyways, I would tremendously like to organize something like this in Seattle or with UW students specifically.  I could definitely set up a web site that would accommodate the communication, idea generation, and event planning, and I think it would be a really fun project.  Anyways, I’ll be looking for some sort of partner(s) in the matter and see if we can’t put it together together.