Dan Dickinson: The Primary Vivid Weblog

So
I’ve finally got a small chunk of free time, and what better to do than
write my first news entry in about a month? I’ll even go full-blog style,
because it’s been so long.

Wedding: The date has been bumped forward, and the reception will now be
in Sage Hall. More details to follow.

DDR: The path of rage continues, unsurprisingly. I seem to be playing
about an hour or more a day, and the exercise is definitely helping – I’ve
lost at least 15 pounds from when I started playing. In fact, I should
probably weigh myself again…anyhow, I’ve thrown 2 more mixes into my
collection, with another one coming in the very near future.

More DDR: I’ve now downed 6 8 Cata’s (Catastrophic’s, or
“the toughest difficulty song in the game” for the uninitiated), and I’m
starting to move into freestyling a little bit. Freestyling is where you
care less about nailing all the arrows as just looking good doing it –
which I need a lot of work on. Unfortunately, I banged up my knee badly
last week at DDR Club doing just that. If you want to see exactly what
frestyling looks like, and you have DivX installed, check out DJ
8-ball’s Cafe new routine.

Reflection: That’s a large amount of DDR news. I’m such a geek.

CCC: My one-semester term as Production Director is almost over, and we
had our Run DMC show on Sunday. Highlights included a portion of Bailey
Hall collapsing (a football sized chunk of molding hit the stage because
Biz Markie’s bass was too loud), and a drugged up nutball jumping on
stage. Never mind that we only sold around 800 tickets. Oh well, it was
sort of fun, I guess. Also, I have a list of what CCC members put on
their crew signup forms as to why they think they’re special. The results are scary.

Kate: Kate was up for Thanksgiving, and it was wonderful as always to have
her up. Next visit will be right before New Year’s – no Christmas visit
again this year, sadly.

School: Classes are just about over. Still haven’t found a job for after
graduation. 4 finals in 2 days unless I can get some of them moved.
Argh.

Time Wasters: Have you tried CartoonOrbit yet? Lots of fun in a collect-em-all
sort of way. I’m “Sock Him Bean29”. Also, Fark.com is vgg.

Web page: A couple minor changes, as I tweak the bar of links in the lower
left no one looks at, and reconsider various bits of content. The movie
reviews, which I was gung-ho about over the summer, has languished since;
RemyHoo hasn’t been touched in ages. Linkpad/Newspad is the only thing I
regularly update, and that’s just because it’s so ass easy.

Oddity: I’ve now received 2 emails from camgirls looking to be put on the
MGWCPT. Trying to figure out what to do about it, exactly. Maybe just
make it a general cam portal?

Purchases: Greatly reduced since I now have roughly 0 money for kicking
around. Still, I can’t recommend Paul van Dyk’s The Politics of
Dancing enough.

Closing: If you’re bored, email me/IM me/whatever me.

Here
you go, for those interested.

COM L 211 THE COMIC ROAD TO WISDOM 4.0 HRS S/U OR LET

CO-MEETING WITH THETR 214 354-651

969-128 LEC 01 MWF 1115-1205P DONATELLI, S

This course offers an appreciation of comedy not only as a literary
mode but as a symbolic attitude, as an essential aspect of human
experience, and as a species of pre-reflective consciousness whose
appearance especially in pre-modern works can provide valuable orientation
for humanists in an increasingly rationalistic and technological age.
Readings include literary works by Aristophanes, Plato, Erasmus,
Cervantes, Shakespeare, Dickens, Austen, Beckett, Flann O’Brien, Dorothy
Parker, and Italo Calvino, and films by the Marx Brothers and by Indian
director Mira Nair. Prominent theoretical approaches to the comic by
Bergson, Pirandello, Freud, Bakhtin, Auden, Frye, Langer, and others is
also offered, as is background on related sub-topics such as the carnival,
the fool, and laughter. While the course communicates an objective sense
of several comic strategies and positions, its main purpose is to
encourage, and to provide a forum for, the speculative response that comic
literature typically provokes.

MUSIC 262 HAYDN AND MOZART 3.0 HRS S/U OR LET

PREQ: ANY 3-CREDIT MUSIC COURSE OR PERMISSION OF INSTRUCTOR

PLUS 1-HOUR DISC TBA

449-371 LEC 01 TR 1115-1205P WEBSTER, J

Music for courts, theaters, churches, concerts, dancing, marching,
public and private ceremonies, and domestic use by two extraordinarily
different musical personalities who were friends, is explored in its
historical and socio-cultural contexts.

COM S 502 ARCH OF DIGITAL LIBR WEB INFO 3.0 HRS S/U OR LET

645-134 LEC 01 TR 0255-0410P LAGOZE

This course examines the application of computer science methods in
digital libraries. A central topic is the representation of complex
information in computer systems, including object models and metadata.
Closely related topics include how to discover and deliver information
over heterogeneous distributed systems and how to preserve intellectual
information over worldwide networks for long periods of time. A theme that
runs through the course is the interplay between computing and people,
including the legal, social, and economic context.

COM S 482 INTRO ANALYSIS OF ALGORITHMS 4.0 HRS S/U OR LET

640-836 LEC 01 MWF 0905-0955A TARDOS & KLEINBERG

Techniques used in the creation and analysis of algorithms.
Combinatorial algorithms, computational complexity, NP-completeness, and
intractable problems.

ECON 102 INTRO ECONOMICS (MACRO) 3.0 HRS S/U OR LET

STUDENTS MUST ENROLL IN LECTURE 01 AND IN ONE

SECTION FROM THOSE NUMBERED 55 – 69

331-309 LEC 01 MW 1010-1100A BUTLER

SUB-COURSES

331-692 SEC 57 T 1010-1100A STAFF

Analysis of aggregate economic activity in relation to the level,
stability, and growth of national income. Topics discussed may include the
determination and effects of unemployment, inflation, balance of payments,
deficits, and economic development, and how these may be influenced by
monetary, fiscal, and other policies.

Wednesday night, prelim tomorrow, need to be hitting the books. Instead, posting news to web page. Is this a good thing? Damn right.
We have a show! Cake, with Rahzel, on November 10th. I’m being plunged into the ever-dangerous world of concert organization…it’s going okay so far.
This week: hellish. Tuesday was Government prelim, today was IT lab project (didn’t finish, but I did my best), tomorrow is IT prelim. Next week, in the clear – just a paper so far. Also, job interview with MS on Monday. CourseEnroll, too. Maybe not too in the clear.
Other than the aforementioned, life is pretty normal. Feel free to make things interesting.