2009: The Year in Review

2009 was a big year filled with big things. To help you (and me) remember some of those things, I present a year-end tradition at The World of Stuff, the Year in Review.

• January 1 - The World of Stuff gets a redesign.
• January 5 - I go to Miami Metrozoo.
• January 8 - I celebrate my university's football team winning the national championship.
• January 9 - I go apartment hunting for my next year at school.
• January 31 - My friend Evan and I play in a talent show.
• February 1 - I introduce a text-message service for the Gainesville bus system. (I don't think it's working right now.)
• February 7 - I announce that I'll be going to Europe with some friends in the summer.
• February 24 - I vote in the spring Student Government elections.
• March 7 - I go to a Florida Panthers hockey game with friends.
• March 20 - I vote against allowing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in Gainesville.
• March 21 - I take panoramic photos around campus and upload one of them to Wikipedia.
• March 27 - The xkcd blog links to a page on The World of Stuff.
• March 28 - I go tubing on the Ichetucknee with friends from my dorm.
• April 2 - I volunteer at Lifeapalooza, Get Carded's year-end event.
• April 4 - My friend Evan and I spend an evening in Jacksonville.
• April 6 - TWoS turns six years old.
• April 12 - My first date, like, ever.
• April 14 - A second date, seeing comedian Demetri Martin perform on campus.
• April 19 - I buy a netbook for our trip to Europe.
• April 23 - I'm named Get Carded's Volunteer of the Year again.
• April 25 - I go to Gator Freethought's year-end party.
• April 30 - A third and last date.
• May 2 - I move out of Hume Hall for good.
• May 26 - Andy, Mark, Dan, and I leave for our European adventure.
• May 27-June 3 - Andy and I stay with Andy's relatives in London.
• June 3-9 - Andy and I stay in and around Paris, first in a hostel in town, then in the suburbs with an Esperanto-speaking friend of his, and finally back in the city with a Esperanto-speaking host.
• June 10-11 - After arriving in Spain, Andy and I spend a day and night in Vitoria-Gasteiz, the capital of the Basque Country.
• June 11-14 - I stay outside Madrid. Andy joins me, but leaves on the 13th to go to a funeral at home.
• June 14-18 - I stay with my old friend Laura in Seville.
• June 18 - After some confusion, including a chance encounter with Mark and Dan, I meet Andy in Madrid, and we head to Barcelona.
• June 18-25 - Andy and I stay in Barcelona, first with some Esperanto-speaking hosts, and then with our friend George and his family.
• June 25-26 - On the way to Italy, Andy and I stay in a small town in the South of France.
• June 26 - Andy and I make a brief stop in the tiny country of Monaco.
• June 26-27 - Andy and I stay in Pisa, Italy, and check out the Leaning Tower.
• June 27-30 - Andy and I stay in Rome. I also venture into Vatican City, where I have another chance encounter with Mark.
• June 30-July 3 - Andy and I explore beautiful Venice, Italy.
• July 4-7 - While Andy is in Switzerland with Mark and Dan, I stay in Croatia and visit relatives I hadn't even known about before.
• July 8-10 - Andy and I stay with Andy's cousin in Vienna.
• July 10-18 - Andy and I attend the Summer Esperanto Study near Bratislava, Slovakia, where I turn 20, have my first kiss, and go on excursions to Bratislava and Vienna.
• July 18-25 - Andy and I go to the International Youth Congress of Esperanto in Liberec, Czech Republic. During that time, I go on an excursion to Prague.
• July 25-26 - As Andy flies from Prague to London, I stay with Esperantist Chuck Smith and his girlfriend Judith in Dresden, Germany.
• July 26-28 - I stay with Chuck and Judith at their home in Berlin.
• July 28-30 - I visit Amsterdam.
• July 30-31 - After arriving back in London, I stay with Andy and George at George's Drury Lane dorm owned by the London School of Economics.
• July 31 - Andy and I meet up with Mark and Dan, and together we fly home.
• August 22 - I move in to my new apartment in Gainesville with Andy and my previous roommate, Ryan.
• August 25 - I have a band practice with my friend Evan and one of his friends, but nothing else comes of it.
• September 15 - I listen to two of the Beatles' remastered albums for the first time.
• September 15 - Andy and I kick off a new year for our Esperanto club by explaining how we spent our summer.
• September 23 - I watch my childhood friend Reid make his TV debut.
• October 5 - I meet our new roommate who has just moved in to the apartment.
• October 6 - I give a presentation and talk to a reporter at Florida Free Culture's Mind Mashup event.
• October 15-16 - I go with my friend Andrea and some of her friends to Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens, and then we spend the night at her house.
• October 29 - I have a letter to the editor published in a student newspaper.
• October 31 - I spend Halloween with Andrea and some of her other friends.
• November 2 - I have to reinstall Ubuntu after an upgrade goes awry.
• November 8 - I post a semi-original video, The World of Stuff's first in almost three years.
• November 25-26 - I spend Thanksgiving at my grandparents' house.
• December 5 - I watch the Gators lose the SEC Championship Game.
• December 22 - I announce my plans to go on a road trip up the East Coast with some friends next summer.
• December 24 - I get a new cell phone for Christmas.
• December 25 - Christmas.
• December 27 - My sister and I join our friend Kevin in meeting Laura in Miami Beach.

I don't have to tell you that the 2000s have been a pretty terrible decade politically, economically, culturally... But it's significant for me because it's the first one I remember from beginning to end. Yes, I remember January 1, 2000. It was a Saturday. The ball dropped, and the world didn't end. Later, the Snorlax episode of Pokémon was on. I remember that, okay?

I read somewhere that people tend to reminisce about the decade that's two decades before the current one. It makes sense. In the '70s, they romanticized the '50s; in the '90s, we dug the groovy '70s (ask my sister about that one); and in the 2000s, we loved the '80s. I can feel a wave of '90s nostalgia coming on as my generation comes of age. I don't need to wonder what people will remember about the 2000s, but I do wonder whether they'll think of it fondly.

I almost suffered from reminiscence overload while compiling this post, but as if that weren't enough, my dad just went through all the digital photos on his old laptop and had me look at them. They range from 2000, when he first got a Sony Mavica (floppy disks, anyone?), to 2008. I hadn't seen a lot of them before, and others I hadn't seen in a long time, so it was fun to look back.

I'm not just looking back; I'm also looking forward. As cheesy as that sounds, it's true. My high school friend Yamilee (first mentioned here) is getting married on Saturday... I know, that's what I was thinking! January 1 would have made a great wedding anniversary, but hey, it's not my wedding. I will be going, though; my whole family's invited. In fact, my sister is going to be a bridesmaid!

So, that's it for the 2000s. (The media is still waffling about what to call the decade, often referring to it euphemistically as just "this decade" or "the decade," but I've long made up my mind.) 2009 was a good year for me, and I hope 2010 is just as good. See you in the... oh crap, what do we call the next one?

From Time: The '00s: Goodbye (at Last) to the Decade from Hell.

From The Big Picture: The decade in news photographs.

Reunion

During my trip to Europe over the summer, I visited my friend Laura, whom I hadn't seen since we were 8. She had moved to Spain and had never come back, as far as I knew. Actually, she did go back every few years to be with some of her family members, but I had never known. She even visited some of her friends from our school one time; she showed me the pictures. She also said she'd be visiting the States again in December, so I knew we had to meet up then.

So during our winter break, my (our) friend Kevin pulled the strings, and we all met in Miami Beach on Sunday along with my sister, who never knew Laura very well, but none of us thought that was a problem. We met in the afternoon and walked around the city for hours, checking out the sights and shops. We also had dinner at a Japanese restaurant, so that was cool. It was a good chance for all of us to reminisce about our school days together.

Eventually, it was late. After a run to McDonald's for dessert, Laura had to go, and we were all tired from walking so much. Although we had fun, we had to say our goodbyes, hoping that it wouldn't be another 12 years before we all got together again.

In the interest of tying loose ends, this was one of the Europe '09 followups I mentioned, in case you were wondering. The other was the announcement of my East Coast road trip since it would be sort of a sequel. You know, if my life were a movie or something.

As I mentioned previously, I got a new phone for Christmas. I'd been using a Nokia 6030, which wasn't cutting-edge even when I got it three years ago. Now I've been giving my LG Xenon (warning: the web site is ridiculous) a try. There are some things about it that I don't quite like, but I'll have to get used to them (or go back to using my old phone):

• There's a semi-secret option to turn off 3G service, which in turn saves battery life. However, phone defaults to using 3G the next time it's turned on, so it's kind of pointless unless you have your phone on all the time (which I don't).
• It's not possible to set a default ring volume. If you switch to silent or vibrate mode and then back, the ring volume is set to 0.
• After adding all of my contacts and deleting some old ones, I noticed that some contacts I didn't delete were gone and some that I did delete were not gone.
• My old phone would last over a week between charges; this one seems to last about half as long.

I'll probably get used to those things, though. I do like that the phone has a keyboard and a touch screen, both of which are new to me. It also saves outgoing text messages, which is something I couldn't get my old phone to do.

See the winning entry from Discover Magazine's Evolution in Two Minutes or Less video contest. It's really cheesy. You can watch some other finalists too. (Via Pharyngula)

More zany mugshots: The 30 Most Memorable Mug Shots of 2009. (Via The Presurfer)

Thoughts on Russia

Christmas went well. My uncle came over for dinner with his girlfriend, whom we hadn't yet met. I thought it was interesting to have a new person with us for Christmas dinner. I sometimes wonder what situations that are familiar to me would be like to an outsider, and I was pleased to imagine that an outsider would be happy with us and our feast. (Corollary: I worry a lot about what people think of me. Example: I shouldn't have used the word "corollary" because people will think I'm a nerd.)

After dinner, my dad wanted to watch the video of the Christmas play that my sister and I were in a few years ago. Since our tapes weren't labeled, we ended up going through (and getting sidetracked by) videos from our trip to North Carolina and the first youth group comedy night. Eventually, we did find the play, and we watched it. I forgot that everyone did a pretty good job with their acting (except for me because I played Santa Claus and had to wear a fake beard that kept riding up my face).

Yesterday, I went to the mall with my sister and our friend Kevin. I didn't have a monthly calendar for next year, so I bought a calendar of vintage UF football game program cover artwork. I like UF football, and I like nostalgia. I didn't even know there were programs for football games back in the day. Do they still have them? Are they only for the rich people in the boxes?

My friend Katja, or Katya, or Kate, who will be visiting soon, had a question for me about her native Russia. She wanted to know about my honest impressions of the country and how I imagine life to be like there.

The main thing that sticks out in my memory from what I've heard and read is that the police are said to be corrupt, and that they'll stop your car and arrest you if you don't give them money. Russia is also home to some illegal music downloading sites and some news sites with dubious stories. Vladimir Putin seems to be portrayed in the Western media as power-hungry, particularly since he's become Prime Minister. So my overall impression is that Russia is a place where the rule of law is not taken very seriously. I think it's also very cold.

I want to stress that I don't have any ill will toward Russia or Russians. This is exactly the kind of answer Katja was looking for: maybe not factual but what I have been led to believe. I'm sure that Russia is a nice place to visit and that any of the bad things I mentioned, if true, are not too prevalent. If I went there, I doubt I would have to bribe the police, and it might even be warm. I know that some people have bad impressions of America (for example, South Koreans think our beef is all tainted due to maybe a single incident), but it's really not a bad place to live (as long as you can get health insurance).

So, I'm curious. What impressions do my non-USA readers have about the USA?

Is it too late for a Christmas-related link? Read about Sweden's tradition of watching Donald Duck cartoons on Christmas Eve. (Via waxy.org)

This was pretty depressing to read. I didn't realize that rape was so common and that women were so... aware of it. Schrödinger's Rapist: Or a Guy's Guide to Approaching Strange Women Without Being Maced. (Via mcgees.org)

Christmas 2009

So I guess they actually did spend twelve days celebrating Christmas back in the old days. That must have been fun. We've had three, pretty much. It started on Wednesday night when my grandparents came over and we had surf 'n' turf for dinner. We don't have steak a lot, and I'd only had lobster once before, but I can't remember where. It wasn't too long ago. The archives don't help, but they remind me that the dinner was quite bovine and homarine.

Also on Wednesday, my dad found an 1897 Liberty Head nickel in some change and gave it to me. I'd grade it as Very Good to Fine or thereabouts. Coin collecting is an expensive hobby unless you can scavenge through a lot of change.

After dinner, my sister and I watched The Nightmare Before Christmas, which we had taped (omg you guys still use vhs vcr video casette tapes? what the heck) from a recent airing on the Disney Channel. Surprisingly, there were only three commercial breaks, and the credits were left intact. In fact, I don't think anything was cut out from the film either. It was a Christmas miracle.

For Christmas Eve, we did the whole church thing and then went home and opened a few gifts. My dad got new cell phones for everybody. I'm evaluating mine and will let you know what I think about it later. Then we had another feast for dinner. It consisted of finger foods like wings, shrimp, and chips 'n' dips. What says "Merry Christmas" better than seven-layer dip? Maybe the desserts, but that's it.

And today, it's Christmas. The cell phone was my Big Present of the Year, but I also got some clothes and other things that are nice to have. Plus, I have more gifts coming in the mail from friends and family, so maybe we can stretch this Christmas out a little further. In a few hours, we'll have dinner, which is the same as our Thanksgiving dinner because it's too good to have just once a year.

And now, a special Christmas edition of Ask Jordon!

Shannon: Why exactly are you an atheist?

I didn't ignore you, Shannon! I got this question months ago and have been working on a response. The result is a new page, Why I Am an Atheist. You can also find if you click on... can anyone guess? Yes, Articles! Good job.

I don't have any Christmas-related links, so you'll have to settle for these secular links that are destroying Christmas.

A song whose lyrics consist of sampled movie and TV quotes: The Golden Age of Video. (Via waxy.org)

Here's another video with movie quotes: specifically, movie titles as spoken in the movies themselves. (Via waxy.org)

Panoramic Europe / America '10

During my European adventure this summer, I took a lot of panoramic photos. Well, I took the individual photos that I would later stitch into panoramas once I got back home. And once I got back home, I did just that. Then I posted them on Facebook, which didn't really do them justice because they were all resized to be all tiny-like. I'd been meaning to post full-size versions of the best ones here on The World of Stuff, so I've done that now. Enjoy Panoramic Europe!

The summer of '08 consisted mainly of me hanging out and throwing around baseballs with some of my friends, but that's not to say we didn't have big plans. My friend Nick, a history buff, floated around the idea of going on a road trip to see some Civil War battlefields, possibly the next summer, but that didn't materialize.

Now, it's official. Nick, Mike, and TJ asked me if I wanted to go with them on a two-week road trip in June 2010. They plan to visit Atlanta, Washington, New York, Boston, and Gettysburg. It won't be all battlefields, as I could have guessed. Nick and TJ plan to go to a pizza restaurant near Atlanta to see if they can eat an 11-pound pizza in an hour. And I'm sure that won't be the only crazy hap to happen.

I told my parents about the plans, and they didn't say I could go, but they also didn't say I couldn't go. I figure that if they let me go to Europe for two months with people they didn't know, they'll let me go up north for two weeks with people they do know. Ah, to be trusted. It is good.

It might sound strange that I want to go on this trip because I just said that I don't have enough money to go on another trip to Europe. But the projected cost for next summer's road trip is much less than what I spent on plane and train tickets before setting foot in the airport in May. We're talking apples and oranges here. Well, more like apples and... tiny apples.

Inevitable misreading: "Panoramic Europe-America '10?" I put spaces around the slash for a reason. No excuses.

Here's a video showing Every Nickelback Wikipedia Page Vandalism Ever. Warning: there's Nickelback music, so turn your sound off. (Via waxy.org)

This would be fun to try if I were good at making stuff: Secret Knock Detecting Door Lock. (Via Lifehacker)

Whaddayaknow

If I'm not blogging regularly, it could only mean one of two things: either I'm busy or I have nothing to say. Well, it could be both, but I'm simplifying things. In this case, I am havin' a blast. I got home on Thursday night. I spent Friday night with my friends and most of Saturday with them as well. Today was a family day; my sister and I went with our parents to get a Christmas tree.

So, whaddayaknow, it's almost Christmas. As usual, I don't really want much stuff. I asked my parents for (i.e., bought with their credit card) a Creative Commons t-shirt. The money goes toward a good cause, and I can use my chest to advertise it. Sounds like a winning plan all around.

From the Stuff-Nobody-Cares-About Dept.: I used to use my own Update Notifier for my Greasemonkey user scripts. Almost everybody writes their own, but I've gotten tired of having to maintain it and figured that someone else would probably do a better job, so I'm switching to usoCheckup for my scripts. It has some interesting features that are too boring to describe here.

And hey, whaddayaknow, it's the end of the post already.

I've sleepwalked before, and I'm afraid of doing it again because it's really creepy. Case in point: sleep-emailing and other strange occurrences. (Via The Presurfer)

Watch as a woman attempts 21 accents in three videos: 1, 2, 3. She's pretty good.

Here's an interesting column that appeared in a UF student newspaper this semester: Social Media Emphasize Individuality. The author argues that when people we don't know very well pour their souls out in blogs and the like, it helps us understand that they're more than meets the eye.

The visitor

I survived Finals Week '09. Well, Finals Week Fall '09, to be exact. And, presumably, every previous one. (T-shirt idea: "I survived the first x years of my life.")

Now, have I really not mentioned Katja here since the summer? It seems that I haven't. This must be corrected.

I met her at an Esperanto event in Slovakia. She's Russian. Rather than communicating in English or Russian (the latter of which I don't know—ФЯ DФ I ИФШ?—eh, no, I don't), we used Esperanto. Her name is Ekaterina, which is Russian for Catherine, and her nickname is Katya. In Esperanto that's spelled Katja, and when speaking English, she goes by Kate.

Since meeting over the summer, we've stayed in touch, still writing to each other in Esperanto. (You may recognize Kate as the author of some recent comments on this here blog.) And as it happens, she had been planning to come to the States, so she's going to drop by when she's here early next year, i.e., in a few weeks. And no, it really isn't just to see me; she had been planning the trip before we met. Even so, it'll be really cool to have someone visit me from so far away.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to having her as a guest here in Gainesville (and at my home in South Florida, since we'll have a three-day weekend).

Stay tuned, because more exciting Europe '09 follow-ups are on the horizon. But first, I'm heading home for winter break. Yeeeaah!

Need to know how to pronounce a famous (or currently newsworthy) person's name? The Name Engine has got you covered. I had been wondering about Ndamukong Suh. And hey, it looks like their whole directory of sound files is accidentally browsable. (Via J-Walk Blog)

A graph: A Graphic History of Newspaper Circulation Over the Last Two Decades. (Via waxy.org)

Exams are exciting

Busy times again. Yesterday was the last day of classes. Some professors decide to have their final exams on the last day instead of during exam week, so I had two exams yesterday. I had studied a lot for them the day before, so they weren't too hard. I already know that I got an A in Statistics, which I thought would be impossible.

It kind of puzzles me that I'm still having to take classes like Statistics that really have nothing to do with my major. I tell people who go to other universities the kinds of classes I'm taking, and they're also puzzled, which in turn makes me mad. I don't want anyone to think I'm getting a bad education. I think I've touched on this theme before, but I'm too lazy to find the link.

The professor of my Data Structures and Algorithms class (the most important class I'm taking) says they don't have time to teach us computer science and computer engineering majors everything, especially when it comes to programming languages. He suggests that we go off and learn some languages on our own. It's not a bad idea, but I'd like to learn more than one language in school.

Isn't it obvious why there's no time? It's because the university, or whoever tells them what they have to teach, insists that students have well-rounded college education. The Dutch sisters I met on the train from Venice to Zagreb this summer were puzzled by that idea. I could see their point. If I wanted to have a well-rounded education, I would have gone to high school. Oh, wait, I already did!

Sure, it would reflect well on me to learn programming languages by myself (as I actually have). And sure, it's not the worst thing in the world to write essays about the spice trade on the Indian Ocean during the Middle Ages and early modern period (as I also have). But I daresay that time spent doing the latter when I should be concentrating on the former is not time well spent. And they wonder why they can't teach us enough of what we need to know...

Anyway, I have an exam on Saturday and my last one on Tuesday. I'm not sure exactly when I'll be going home yet.

Joshua reports on abuse of authority and endorsement of religion at California public school. He's started a letter-writing campaign to stop the injustice. I've been too busy to write a letter, but I hope to get to that soon if it's still necessary.

And here's A Flowchart to Determine What Religion You Should Follow. (Via Pharyngula)

Some weather

The winners never say "It's only a game..."

Remember how college football equals epic drama?

In September of last year, the Florida Gators suffered an embarrassing loss to Ole Miss at home. After the game, Tim Tebow, the Gators' star quarterback, promised that no one would work harder than he would for the rest of the season. The Gators went on to win every game, including their conference championship and the national championship. The words of "The Promise" were etched onto a plaque outside the stadium. Tebow led the Gators through this season undefeated as well, for a total of 22 victories in a row.

The fun came to an end tonight as Alabama crushed Florida to win the conference championship.

I was watching at my friend Andrea's apartment. All of us—she, her boyfriend, her other friends, and I—were on edge the whole time. The Gators never led in the game. A comeback looked less and less likely. Finally, the score was 32-13 in the fourth quarter, and the announcers were declaring it over. Alabama had possession and took a knee. Tim Tebow cried. He had already played the last home game of his career. The team's hopes for a repeat national title were ruined.

A lot of thoughts were going around in my mind. I was tense. I could feel my heart beating in my stomach. I hadn't felt like this in a long time, and I have had some pretty bad times. I thought about how I could cheer myself up. If I had a bottle, I would drink. If I had a girl, I would kiss her. But there was nothing I could do. I wondered if I was the only person in the room who felt this way. Everyone else seemed to be laughing it off. Maybe they were just coping better.

Rather than sticking around to watch more TV, we went out. I kept my sweater on over my Gators shirt. We went to the mall, where I couldn't help but see tons of Gators merchandise for sale. We walked around for a little bit, I guess to get some milkshakes. I got one. Then we went to Target, where there was also tons of Gators merchandise in view. Andrea and some of the others bought cases of Dr Pepper, which happened to be the main sponsor of tonight's game.

I felt like it was letting it get to me too much, but I didn't want to say that because then everyone else would know it was getting to me too much. I think they all could tell, anyway. (If not, I've just blown my cover.) They took me back to my apartment, and to my dismay, I realized it was only nine o'clock. I had been counting on plopping right into bed, but it was too early. Oh, the world can be cruel sometimes.

I know, I know. This is a ridiculous thing to get worked up about. It is only a game. It's an hour of bulky sociology majors trying to move an oddly-shaped ball from one end of a field to the other in short bursts. It's not politics. It's not love. It's not like anyone died.

This is where I would rebut those potential criticisms and point out why it is in fact important, but I'm coming up short. All I know is that a lot of people had their hopes riding on this season, and that everyone who hates the Gators will have a field day. Actually, thanks to the magic of Facebook, I can tell that they already are. I guess that's the worst part for me since I have thin skin. Being a loser isn't fun.

Yes, this post is going to look stupid in the distant or not-so-distant future. But I don't know which is worse: feeling sad about this or knowing that it doesn't matter. When I'm feeling down about something, I want it to believe it's important, so I'd rather not hear optimistic words of wisdom, even though they often are true.

Meanwhile, the struggle between emotion and reason goes on. So, in spite of myself, I'd like to offer the following. Feel free to hold hands with the people next to you and sing along.

We are the boys from old Florida,
F-L-O-R-I-D-A,
Where the girls are the fairest,
The boys are the squarest
Of any old state down our way.

We are all strong for old Florida,
Down where the old Gators play.
In all kinds of weather,
We'll all stick together
For F-L-O-R-I-D-A.

Here's something few people will be interested in: A Literary Appreciation of the Olson/zoneinfo/tz Database. (Via waxy.org)

Watch old movies you've never heard of at Classic Cinema Online. (Via Lifehacker)