Blogtastic

Updates coming soon. Sorry for delay.

Trong

Fantastic x2

Fantastic

This is how I wish philosophy coursework would go.

But it doesn't..

There's a pattern? Who's next?

I just watched Final Destination. 

And decided to start reviewing, no not reviewing, but commenting and giving a verdict on movies. 

I've watched a lot of movies and will attempt to related some movie I have scene to my actual life experience (horrid pun).

Final Destination is about some airplane-phobic kid who has a vision of an airplane crashing just after takeoff while he is learning about the intricacies of the seat belt during boarding. He freaks out, gets tossed off the plane along with several other people, then has a series of premonitions about the imminent deaths of his fellow survivor classmates (the plane actually blows up shortly after takeoff). Thinking he can cheat death, he "finds" a pattern in the deaths by scrawling a zagging line through the seating chart of the plane following some electrical line that, if activated, blows up the plane (poor plane design).  Some odd force that is not explained causes everything horrid to go wrong (like the scene at the beginning of Naked Gun with OJ...see below). Some die, some don't.

Review Rating: 5/10

Pros: blood effects, Ali Larter

Cons: Ali Larter, comically bad acting, crappy plot

So to relate this to my life...

During the entire movie, you should note that nobody is studying for philosophy. I'm sure you can make the connection.

OJ hitting the wet paint makes me smile every time.

I haven't posted in a while

Just to let you all know...I'm alive.

Sorry for the lack of posts.

And I'll be continuing blog service more regularly now.

I have a database class final tomorrow, so I'm studying at the moment.

Cheers,

Troy

Day 2 & 3 - Seville and Cordoba

We had a good time in Seville and Córdoba. I'm in Madrid at the moment sleeping on the floor of my friend Connor's apartment.

Seville was a vibrant city, with people everywhere. It's main 'touristy' features are a cathedral and a fort, but I found the university building and the park much more interesting. I stayed in my first hostel with much success in sleeping.
We saw a fountain:

Eric also slept in the park:


Córdoba had much less "life" in it but still had its charm. We saw a torture museum, walked around a lot, and had some Spanish Tortillas. Our hostel was a 'shared' room, but we had it all to ourselves, so we slept quite well.
Garden in a Castle:

Here's the Mosque in the background:

Day 0 - Madrid

So Eric and I left our safe zone in Bristol for an adventure through Europe. It will be long and hard, but in the end it will be rewarding (that sentence has too much sexual innuendo). The trip will wear on us in our aggressive pace, but hopefully will pay back much more in experience and knowledge.

We made it into Madrid at around 8:15 and 'metro-ed' to the bus station by around 9. A helpful man at the socibus station helped us purchase the correct tickets. His English was superb, but made me speak in Spanish until he found out that we were from the US. From now on, 'soy de ingleterra...' you are less of an assumed doofus.

Here we are in the airport:





We then boarded a midnight bus to Seville. This was a tiring experience, as it is very difficult to sleep on a bus full of people, a driver who plays loud music (drove me bonkers until Bob Marley began playing), and a baby who wasn't a quiet baby.

Street view in Bristol!

This is where I live:


View Larger Map

Barnstormer

I think that my favorite beers thus far in the UK have been at a single microbrewery and at another local brewery. "Barnstormer" from Bath Ales and the Irish Lager from Zero Degrees stand out among those.

I will be out for 3 weeks starting the weekend after next, but there will be (hopefully) frequent posts. I'll try to keep up with locations, pictures, and beer reviews. If anyone who reads this (Nancy or Tyler Davis or anyone else (if the third point exists)) has any "must-see" places between Spain and Poland, please let me know.

I think this posts in facebook now.

Something cool here: There are research demonstrations on a weekly basis just set out for people to see in the building I work in. Students here seem interested in what other kids are doing and what the professors are researching. I hope that this intense interest in academics hits the U of A at some point.

Goal for those while I'm abroad: spark more interest in nerddom. Recruit, my brothers! Recruit!

Troy's Class

My laptop has a busted graphics card cooling fan, so it is in the shop and I have limited computer usage. I've been especially busy these last few weeks turing in my first philosophy paper (I got a 2.1...which is like a high B and better than most people in my tutorial group). Pwning some computer science tests, and coding up Matlab.

Beer Recommendation: Grolsch.

My parents come up in less than a week, so I plan to show them a good time.

I'll be updating a lot, with many pictures, during my trip with Eric Anderson, a very cool guy, from Spain to Poland through France, Italy, Austria, and Germany.

Beetle, what you doin' there?

So it's been a while. I've had a busy few weeks. While I'm drawing a blank on what actually happened, I'll just start talking about some random things and hope it comes together coherently in the end.

Here's a little music for you:



I'm a lucky guy (for many reasons, especially apparent soon enough). When the exchange students were given housing applications, we were asked to rank in importance some attributes on where we should live. Some people choose "sport fields close," others chose "strong community." I chose co-ed roommates and my own bathroom (which has worked out well so far). There seems to be a greater depth of perspective in our apartment, and that lends itself to creating a more intellectually diverse atmosphere. It's like our kitchen is a normal common room in a dorm, except populated by though-provoking friends (missing the idiots).

However, to get back on track. Housing placed me in Winkworth, which is self-catered (7 of us share a kitchen). Other halls have this attribute, but few have a cleaning lady come in to cleanse the kitchen once a week as ours does. Her name is Jan. She's around 65-68, has great-grand children and lives with father (who is losing his mind). I eat lunch each week and listen to her talk about her life, usually in a somewhat depressed fashion. She was talking about how she didn't want her kids to go through what she is going through right now (having to attend to her father as if he were a child). I was fine listening to her until she made a statement that when somewhat like this: "I don't want my kids to go through this. Sometimes I think that I should just takes some pills, go to sleep, and never wake up." I didn't know how to continue chewing my tuna sandwich when she said that. I had no response. Luckily she followed that with "but that isn't any time too soon" or something like that as she must have seen me turn whiter than a KKK member who works for Clorox (crappy comparison). I don't know how I'd respond to someone who is considering suicide. During my engineering peer mentoring training, we were told that some-outrageously-large-statistic of students the next year would be suicidally depressed, but we just shrugged it off as we seemed to know that freshmen don't do that kind of thing (their newfound unlimited freedom offsets UPII). However, when all freedom has been given up for others and you disappear in the eyes of a crazy old man, it's difficult to talk to someone, as I've have not experienced that situation. I still don't know what to say to her, so I've just joined in with my roommates for keeping the kitchen tidy and being a good listener so she feels appreciated.

So that's Jan.

Here's a beetle:


It's down by the river!

I'm hungry now, and need to do some matlab. But I'll write more fairly soon, as I figure out where I'm going this break.

Peace.

A new post is coming, I've just been quite busy

But I'll catch up this last week or so pretty soon.

So have a dance and check back in a bit..



If you want the full experience, go to the actual clip and click "watch in HD" for a rockin' time.

COGS LAN (except I'm not going to write about that)

So last Saturday was a fairly large (20-something people) LAN party held at the student union through the computer gaming society. I participated, and it was grand. I think that there will be a big PVK II following for the next one, as that game rules.
Here is what it looks like (about half the room):


But, I lost interest in this as a topic after I received a package in the mail. Luke, my flatmate, let me know that I had a parcel, and I was confused. I wasn't sure who even knew my address. So I opened it and here's what I found:


It's a U of A bear with HUG ME written on the front from the 2008 Japanese exchange students at the U of A. Today was a horrible day for homework, but this lightened up my spirit and continues to make me smile. I take its advice regularly:


So Megumi, Sachi, Mizuho, Yurika, Tetsuya, Yuki, Yoshiki, and Aki, Thank you for lovely gift.

A new favorite

This Wednesday (today) I went to the Climbing Academy. While it lacked a home-grown feel to it that LCP radiates, it was new, clean, and extremely varied in routs available (with small variation in hold types...most were from the same company and had the same feel between beginner and advanced). Here are a few pics:







Btw...Chris Sharma is giving a lecture there next week or so. I'm not sure I'm up for paying £20 to see him, but it could be entertaining.

This was just too cool

Oren Lavie - Her Morning Elegance
Uploaded by IgnitionVM

That's Life

Here's a little music for you while reading (video unimportant...also, the uploader disabled embedding, I'm deeply sorry).

Whoops...need to go wash clothes...there are 2 washers for 120+ people so you have to sign up a day in advance (and my time is in 10 minutes).

Ok. Where was I? Ah yes, the Alkaline Trio. The music itself wasn't bad, but the crowd dynamics really made the concert quite fun. We had front-rail spots on the 2nd floor. With an amazing view of the stage and no sweaty punk kids pushing me everywhere, I could enjoy the concert and the flow the crowd. It was packed indeed:


Some of the little brats were shifting 2m at a time, and nobody stood still (except the crammed ones at the very front).

On another note, here are my roommates (or at least the ones that I talk to on a regular basis...one other never talks to anyone and the other isn't around much):


Left to Right on Computers: Mike, Serena, Luke. Turned around: Francesca

Finally...CURRY!


I'll leave with that sitting with you (or going through you as you sit)..

That was a crappy joke.

The Horror, the horror...

...of a little snow. It's mostly slush by now outside, but it was enough to scare my AFTERNOON classes to be canceled, but not my morning ones (hear growl and see sad face here).

Song(s) of the day can be found in the zip file here. The primary song of the day is "Swan Together." Next is "When will my cheated heart." Give them a listen. The rest of the CD isn't that bad either. This is free mash-up.

So I walked through a seedier section of town on my way home from climbing in a cathedral (har har be jealous you cathedral-less yanks) and saw some people who were almost gangster-esque. However, there's this aura of being English that surrounds many of them which makes them less scary than their American counterparts (also here you don't get shot, you get stabbed, so their range is limited to an arms length [I know the article is a bit old indeed, but you get the picture...and it's worse now]). I asked my roomies about this phenomenon and they pointed me to the term "chav." I found it on Wikipedia and encyclopedia dramatica (WARNING TO ADULTS/UPTIGHT PEOPLE: encyclopedia dramatica is a very perverse site. It is Wikipedia without moderators run by racist nerds. If you are easily offended, do not follow that link. Also, if you do follow that link and are a first-time visitor, don't click ANY links on the web page. Simply read the article and close the window. I cannot vouch for anything outside of the article). I thought the chav concept was interesting (and sadly a little funny). I know knife wounds aren't funny, but blinged-out cracked-out white British posers with knives are.

Just wear Kevlar when you walk at night.

Bristol Climbing Centre

So I thought I'd post a little video of the climbing centre I went to last week.

Pretty cool stuff for being inside a cathedral.

OMG SNOW...and other things

Pre-PS: Play the song at the bottom while you read. It's the song of the day..."I Wonder" by Aretha Franklin.

Well..It's been a while (if you measure "time" by what's happened in the past week). I'll try, in the next string of characters, to give you somewhat of an account of my life here in Bristol.

How should I start? How about with Winky? I like cooking for myself. It's cheap and never dull. I've had many sandwiches, as well as some crazy cheap mashed potato/tuna/corn/cheese mess that was pretty clutch. Well I'm tired of talking about Winky (Winkworth). It's a fun close play to live from campus.

Here's a little of the places I go.


So I'm been asked to describe the classes I'm taking in a little detail. So here goes the cake and the pudding (without the sauce)..

1. Database. Dr. Julian Gough. 3rd Year Computer Science. This class is pretty cool so far. We get to use the Superfamily database that he created. It's a lot of fun. I'll learning MySQL and Oracle and general database theory in the class. It looks like it'll have a manageable workload.

2. Computational Complexity. Dr. Richard Jozsa. 3rd Year Computer Science. This class gives my mind a titty-twister, if that's possible. It's about expressing everything in a turing-machine-like environment and assessing how hard all of the problems are. This is an epic class and the professor is happy to no end. This is my wildcard class in terms of difficulty.

3. Symbols, Patterns, and Signals. Dr. Andrew Calway (my favorite professor...seems like a genius of a man just by having some one-on-one time with him). 2nd Year Computer Science. I get to learn Matlab in this class...Can you believe it? It looks pretty interesting. We'll be learning how face-recognition works and how to test for likeness between photos and the theory behind other means of data comparison.

4. Intro to Philosophy. A bunch of professors. 1st Year Philosophy I'm going to record one of these and put them online. This is some interesting stuff. Right now we're on ethics and metaethics. Not much practical use, but it is interesting wrapping your mind around well-argued falsities. The work load will be minimal here. 1st Year classes are centered around giving the students time to drink rather than study it seems.

I'll also insert a few pictures.

Here's my house:



Here's Park Row, a big hill:



Here's a cathedral about 100 yards from my house:

Goodbye Burwalls, Hello Winkworth

The title refers to my final initial change for the trip--moving out of temporary housing. These first few days have been quite busy, signing up for classes in a physical manner (walk to different departments), meeting my new flatmates (they're cool), learning the foreign kids' names (i haven't completely yet), and walking around (after jamming my foot before leaving the morning of my flight in Fayetteville, it's been one right pinky toe massage after the next). I'm getting somewhat used to the coin system, althought my wallet is a brick that jingles now. The coins to (from most valuable to worthless) big/fat/two-tone, small/fat/goldish, big/silver, small/hexagonal/silver, big/ribbed/silver, small/ribbed/silver, big/bronze, small/bronze. That's £2, £1, 50p, 20p, 10p, 5p, 2p, 1p. Lots of coins.

The temp house, Burwalls, has only 4 international students left in it, but it really seems more empty than occupied...garble garble aadofkneoinzcoiazb/neadfjk

I'm tired of writing tonight. I'll probably go head to bed and drink some water.

OH, btw. I went to the oldest pub in Bristol, the Hatchet Inn. They've had a license since 1606. It was old and charming...and then we entered and they were rocking out to death metal. One of the most unique atmospheres ever to have entertained my presence.

On other thing. I'm joining the UoB Expedition Society. Check out the website. This Wednesday we're going to the Bristol Climbing Centre, which is an old cathedral gutted into an indoor climbing gym. They just had an extra cathedral lying around. How European.

A man said "cheers" when I opened a door for him

So a little kid babbling about “where’s the bus, where’s the bus?” in an English accent is about the cutest thing ever. The town is beautiful in an awe-inspiring kind of way. I didn’t expect it to be this pretty.

Now that that’s out of the way, here goes for a little account of my trip up.

From there beginning…

I didn’t really sleep. I played “World of Goo” like I had OCD with the silly little goo balls taunting my every mistake with their blinking eyes and lemming-like interjections. This lasted until about 10pm, when I decided I would be better off not sleeping without distraction. I think I banked up about two and a half hours riddled with odd dreams (the one I remember was an odd instance where I couldn’t for the life of me buckle my belt correctly…I just fumbled about until I woke up in a sour mood). At 5:58 I watched my phone until it played my father’s old ringtone at 6—I Dig Rock and Roll Music by Peter Paul and Mary—and then shut it off immediately and jumped in the last hot shower I’d have for a while (still waiting on that one, but I’ll get to that). We got to the airport two hours early on Nancy’s gut feeling that this was the busy time. I was the only one in line during check-in, so going from entrance to through security was about ten minutes. I then played some more Goo and flew to Atlanta, which was Atlanta. The trip to Paris was eased by an extremely attractive American girl (too old for me [30 and married]. She was cute and wicked smart. That took up about four hours, helped by the mini wine bottle she guzzled down. Her brother and my stepbrother are very similar, so we had a good basis to start a conversation. Paris was boring at five in the morning, so I crawled between two benches and passed out for a few hours (I looked like a hobo, but oh well). The bus ride to the airplane took what seemed like a quarter of an hour through smaller and more sparsely populated tarmacs until we came to one with the old planes that still had propellers. That was ours. It shook like temple of doom was collapsing, but it got us to Bristol. What a sight…Green and wet. While I could see sky today, I was told to get used to having clouds overhead all the time. Apparently the sun is a rarity that merits joyous park times and shirtless endeavors. I can’t wait.

Our cab driver was everything I’d hoped for. Cute old English dude who talked about how old stuff was. His thick, thick accent confused the Chinese guy that arrived on the airplane with me.

I’m currently in temporary housing waiting for an open spot in my building (Winkworth). A few of the other students and I explored from here to downtown. I’ll do the picture stuff later. I didn’t take any other than the vast emptiness of the airport in Paris at 5 am.

Limitless. Eternity. Beyond. Charles De Gaulle International Airport E Terminal.

Find your Grail

So I took a concealed weapon certification class today. Interesting mix of people..many spoke on their concerns of the president elect (and that spurred them to start carrying handguns). Of course? Anyway, after establishing that a person's life must be threatened to use deadly force to "stop" the attacker, it seemed that there wasn't much else to actually using a firearm on a person through their logic. The instructor and people attending were in the understanding that if they "stopped" an attacker and adequately articulated that their life or another person's life was in danger, they would be let off the hook pretty much immediately. It was scary and informative. I think that I'll try to participate in the IDPA activities when I get back.

So, concerning the title (after seeing Spamalot a month or so ago [see below]), I've decided to try to find a new passion abroad through trying new activities, or approaching them with a higher motivational goal than "people around you." I'd like it to be "be the best you can," so if that activity surfaces, I will pursue it. I'll try to find my grail.

A little inspiration for your asses:

The Lady of the Lake rules. (And for the nerds out there, her name is Merle Dandridge, the voice of Alex Vance in HL2)

Scrubs has helped me realize something (by being bad)

I recently watch a lot of "Scrubs," the Zach Braff show and realized something. The show is all backstory for static characters. Each episode is just another snapshot of life rather than a progression of it. Nobody wants to live like that. Approaching life as a dynamically changing motion rather than just a bunch of frames allows us to live and not just exist. There's the remnents of my Scrubs rant.

A little music, for the day

While I missed New Year's day by about 35 minutes CMT, it's still the 1st in CA, so this will be for them.

Here's the song of the day: "Midnight Train to Georgia" by Gladys Knight and the Pips

Too Good.

I need to get my act together before leaving Fayetteville. Gonna get on that tomorrow. It seems the most inspiring times come when I'm in my bed and have an excuse (comfy warm bed) not to pursue the fervor I generate.

New Years resolution is to not whine anymore.

No, I'm just kidding that would be silly.

If I had to place a resolution along with 2009, it would be to contribute to the overall happiness of humanity as much as I can.

No, I'm just kidding again, that would be a lie.

I resolve to kick more ass than last year (relatively uneventful in the ass kicking). I'm warming up already (but as I'm in bed, I'll have to get in the ass kicking mood again tomorrow...Maybe I'll listen to some Scatman John).