Coming to you live from downtown Seattle, Washington, it’s none other than me in my new apartment! I moved in on Tuesday. That’s the last day I had corporate housing, and it was when I had an appointment for my IKEA furniture to be put together by experts who knew what they were doing. Thank goodness for that.

I’d never bought furniture before, so buying two whole rooms seemed like a daunting task. I was afraid that everything would look like crap together and/or not fit. So I erred on the side of small furniture, with all of the pieces in each room having the same finish. And guess what: It all looks good, and there’s plenty of space left over. I was elated when the assemblers had put everything together and I realized that everything was going to be okay.

My building doesn’t actually have a 99th floor, but I’m pretty high up—only one floor down from the penthouse—and I have a magnificent view. There’s another building coming up a few blocks away that threatens to block half of my view of the water, but I just found out that it won’t end up being that tall. Phew. I have my desk facing the window so I can look at the Space Needle while I internet. I’m so close that people’s camera flashes on the observation deck can get my attention! I’ll have to get used to that.

I’m still getting my stuff organized. I’m almost done with that, and after my first paycheck (this Thursday), I want to buy a few more things, like a rug and some patio furniture for my balcony, to make the apartment complete. Well, I don’t think it’ll be truly complete for a while. The walls are pretty blank, and I don’t know what to put on them. I’m hesitant to make too many holes and/or do a bad job of aligning things. I don’t even have that much to hang up. I’m not going to bring out the same old posters and stuff. I want my new home to be a little classier than a dorm room.

I got my diploma in the mail a few days ago. Actually, my parents got it, since my address on file with the university was theirs, and they sent it to me. It’s rolled up in a nondescript tube with the return address printed all over it. I would hate for my diploma to get lost in the mail, so I guess it’s good that they do that. There’s a framing store downstairs, so I’ll probably take it down there soon. Maybe I can hang it on the wall, but I don’t really know what college graduates do with their diplomas besides putting them in their office if they have one. I don’t.

Speaking of which, I’m really liking the 15-minute walk to work. Besides that, I often have to wait up to a minute or two for the elevator to arrive at my floor, and then it takes about 30 seconds to get to the lobby, but that hasn’t bothered me, so I doubt it ever will. Really, I’m just impressed at how fast the elevator is. I’m used to slow elevators.

I am just knocked out by how great everything is right now, and I have a whole lot more I can talk about, but I’ll hold off for now so I can try to get eight hours of sleep. Tomorrow is Monday.

One link today: how a vegan became an ex-vegan. It’s kind of a long read, but it was a real eye-opener for me, and I recommend reading it to find out why avoiding animal products is bad for you and bad for the earth.

The graduates who wished to show up were told to do so and a half early, so we all had to be early too. The rest of my family and I sat for eons in the basketball arena, watching the floor for signs of life. Finally, a small brass ensemble started looping “Pomp and Circumstance,” and there was a processional. There had been no rehearsal (how could you get so many people to come to the same place twice?), yet somehow, everyone was perfectly capable of walking in a line and taking a seat. I guess the lesson to be learned from this is that high-schoolers cannot be trusted.

The ceremony began, of course, with the singing of the national anthem. I wondered who came up with the idea of singing the national anthem at graduation ceremonies, but there probably isn’t much of a story behind it. I’d be willing to bet that some nationalistic person simply suggested it, and so it was. No one throughout history would have opposed such a suggestion, for fear of looking like a Loyal-, secession-, anarch-, fasc-, commun-, or terrorist. Why, for example, don’t we say the Pledge of Allegiance in college classes? Why not play the national anthem before movies at the student union? And I’ve noticed many college football teams put American flags on their helmets, so why not have them on the jerseys as well? Once law- and policymakers hear of these ideas, they’ll have to support them; to do otherwise would be career suicide. Just think of how much shit Obama got because everyone else was wearing a flag pin and he wasn’t. I call this phenomenon “nationalism creep,” but some scholar has probably already identified it and come up with a better name.

Anyway, once the ceremony was underway, the President of the University delivered a message, and a few awards were given out to alumni and graduating students, leading to a few more brief speeches. And then it was time for the main attraction: the “conferring of degrees.” It’s all symbolic, really. You never actually get your diploma at your graduation. Your grades for the past semester are still being worked out and won’t be available for a few more days, and only then can they have your diploma printed up all fancy and whatnot, at which time they mail it to you. I guess it’s only fair that attending graduation is optional when you can’t be certain that you’ll actually graduate.

In (my) college, unlike (my) high school, you don’t even get a prop diploma case when you walk the stage. Instead you just shake hands with some people, and that’s it. The last person you shake hands with is the president, and that’s when they take your picture to try to sell it to you for an exorbitant price later. But first, you hand whoever’s reading the names a card so they know how to pronounce your name. Conveniently, you can write your address on the card so they can mail you complimentary proofs of your $20,000 handshake with so-and-so.

We were all proud to see my sister walk the stage even though they butchered our name. She was one of the last to go, so it was a relief. The whole process took a long time, even though they were reading names about as fast as reasonably possible, with multiple people walking the stage at any given time. And once that was done, the new graduates sang the alma mater, swaying back and forth in the manner usually reserved for “We Are the Boys from Old Florida” after the third quarter of home football games. There was no recessional. It was just the way a graduation should be.

All the restaurants in Gainesville were packed that weekend, so when graduation was over, we went back to my parents’ house for a dinner of vegetable lasagna and eggplant parmesan. Even though my grandparents spent the night, I was allowed to sleep in my own bed. The next day, we had all had lunch at the Great Outdoors Restaurant in nearby High Springs, and from there, we headed to campus so my sister and I could be photographed in our caps and gowns, as is common for graduating students to do.

A lot of people have pictures of themselves standing on the football field in their caps and gowns. Normally, walking on Florida Field is discouraged unless you have a legitimate reason to be there, but apparently they turn a blind eye to it if you’ve recently met the requirements for a degree. So after taking some pictures with the football team’s trophies that are on display at one corner of the stadium, I decided we had to get inside. We walked all the way around the stadium (including my poor sister in high heels), and the only gate that was open was the last one that we checked. So I’d say it’s barely tolerated.

Was it worth it, though. Some other graduates were already on the field, but not too many. The first thing I did was go to the 50-yard line (or where I imagined it would be if the field were marked), right in the middle where the big orange “F” would be, and looked around. The stadium is oriented north-south. I looked to the east side and saw the students’ and visiting team’s sections. This is how the alumni and the TV cameras see the games, with the “F” right-side up, but I had never seen the stadium that way myself. And I certainly had never tread the hallowed ground of Florida Field. My dad took pictures of my sister and me at various parts of the field until we were satisfied.

And then it was about time for me to get to my own graduation. We went back to the basketball arena, where my family took the same seats as before, so I could easily find them. I waited in the wings at the floor level with the other graduating students in my department. I got really crowded in there, and I was starting to get claustrophobic. But finally, we were told to start the procession.

My sister’s ceremony had been for multiple colleges; this one was just for the College of Engineering. All I could do was compare my graduation with hers; whoever planned mine had made some different choices. The first one that I noticed as I walked out onto the floor was the music. They chose the organ as the main musical instrument, and it wasn’t playing “Pomp and Circumstance” but something religious-sounding. I felt like I was in church again, but I guess any music played on an organ can sound like that.

A student who was double-majoring in engineering and vocal performance led the national anthem. Most singers love to cheese up that song with all their stupid vocal tricks, but she genuinely had a beautiful voice and didn’t pull any gimmicks. The President of the University was conspicuously absent; representing him was the Interim Vice President for Student Affairs. The dean of the college did most of the talking. A lot of awards were given out to new graduates and alumni, and each recipient had something to say. One of the award recipients was Chris Malachowsky, one of the co-founders of Nvidia, and another was the CEO of Progressive, the car insurance company with the commercials featuring Flo, the bubbly woman who has no life.

After what seemed like forever, it was time for… the commencement speaker to give his speech. I thought it was common for college graduations to have a speaker like this, but my sister’s graduation didn’t have one at all. Our speaker was some old guy who had been on both sides of the military-industrial complex. I’m sure whatever he was talking about was halfway interesting, but he was just a really dull speaker who bored the pants off everybody. Kate, who was watching my graduation online, texted me to say he was “outrageously, exhaustingly talkative.” A guy a few seats away from me texted his friend, “Y U NO STOP TALKING?” (with the appropriate rage face, of course). Finally, everyone sounded restless, and he got the hint. I felt sorry for him. Imagine preparing a speech and delivering it at a college graduation only to bore everybody in attendance. I guess you can prevent that by not being boring, but apparently not everyone has that skill.

Finally, it was time for everyone to walk the stage. I just followed the guy in front of me, and it was no problem. I just had to make sure not to look down or else my hat would fall off. On my pronunciation card, I had made the pronunciation of my family name even clearer than my sister had, but they still mispronounced it anyway. I tried to remain upbeat as I shook hands with the dean and some other people I didn’t recognize. (I wonder how the photo of me shaking hands with the dean came out.) Once we got offstage, we were directed to pose in front of a green screen for another photo that they’ll probably send us proofs of. And then we went back to our seats.

After everyone had walked the stage, it was time again to end the ceremony by singing the alma mater, which was led by the same student who had sung the national anthem:

Florida, our Alma Mater,
Thy glorious name we praise.
All thy loyal sons and daughters
A joyous song shall raise.
Where palm and pine are blowing,
Where southern seas are flowing,
Shine forth thy noble gothic walls,
Thy lovely vine-clad halls.
‘Neath the orange and blue victorious,
Our love shall never fail.
There’s no other name so glorious,
All hail, Florida, hail!

Although the alma mater is slow and solemn, it’s traditional to shout the words “victorious” and “glorious” while extending one’s fist into the air. I knocked my cap off on “victorious” and just went with it. This wasn’t high school graduation, after all. Sure, it was serious and everything, but they knew it was a time to have fun. Hence the beach balls that someone started throwing around after everyone had walked the stage.

And that’s how I became a college graduate.

Eventually, I realized I could probably summarize the main message of each of my college courses in a single statement… or at least recall one thing from the course that stuck with me. Here’s what I’ve come up with:

• MAC2313 (Calculus III): Like Calc I, but in 3D!
• CHM2045 (Chemistry I): At first glance, atoms seem simple. But they’re actually not.
• CHM2045L (Chemistry I Lab): “‘A’ for effort” is a real thing.
• AMH3931 (America in the Fifties): The ’50s were crazier than everyone remembers.
• GEO2410 (Social Geography): People like to have lots of space, but they’re better off living all close together.
• MAP2302 (Differential Equations): e^πi = -1. I forget why, but I think it has to do with circles.
• BSC2008 (Biological Sciences: Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior): The food chain gets narrower at the top because some energy goes to waste when animals eat each other. Mind = blown.
• CIS3022 (Programming I for CIS Majors): Getters and setters!
• PHY2048 (Physics I with Calculus): If your professor hangs a bowling ball from the ceiling, stands up against a wall, holds the bowling ball up to his face, lets go of it, and remains perfectly still, he knows it won’t hit his face when it comes back, but he’ll flinch anyway.
• PHY2048L (Physics I with Calculus Lab): Not everything is a frictionless box in real life.
• IDH3931 (Sultans, Seafarers, Slaves, and Spices: The Indian Ocean in Antiquity): The people in East Africa, the Middle East, India, and Southeast Asia had their shit together way before the Europeans.
• ENC3254 (Technical Writing for Engineers): Never use a long word when a shorter one will suffice. But for some reason, you can’t say “since” instead of “because.”
• CIS3023 (Programming II for CIS Majors): Subclasses! Interfaces! Abstract classes!
• PHY2049 (Physics II with Calculus): The tesla is an impractical unit of measure.
• PHY2049L (Physics II with Calculus Lab): Having a really early class can help you avoid early-morning fire alarms in your dorm.
• EEL3701C (Digital Logic): Anything that involves soldering is not for me.
• ANT2301 (Human Sexuality): Whatever you’re into is probably okay.
• COT3100 (Discrete Structures): If Mark is a zebra, and all zebras have stripes, then Mark has stripes.
• CDA3101 (Computer Organization and Design): If you have to program in assembly, then you may as well just shoot yourself.
• ECO2023 (Principles of Microeconomics): As you get more and more of something, each one is worth less and less to you.
• MAS3114 (Computational Linear Algebra): MATLAB sucks.
• STA3032 (Engineering Statistics): People still look up numbers in tables instead of using calculators.
• COP3530 (Data Structures and Algorithms): A tree is a kind of graph!
• ACG2021C (Introduction to Financial Accounting): Debits go on one side, credits go on the other.
• CIS4301 (Information and Database Systems I): Use joins for everything.
• CEN3031 (Introduction to Software Engineering): Brooks’ law is correct.
• COT4501 (Numerical Analysis): Image compression is all math!
• FIN3403 (Business Finance): I’m not going to have a pension or Social Security, so I’d better start saving for retirement now!
• SPC2608 (Introduction to Public Speaking): I have nothing to say about this class because I never want to think about it again.
• COP4600 (Operating Systems): Kernels are complicated things.
• MAN3025 (Principles of Management): Be nice to your peons.
• CAP4621 (Artificial Intelligence): Lisp probably makes perfect sense if you have brain damage.
• CGS3065 (Legal and Social Issues in Computing): You can find a legal or moral gray area in just about anything.
• CNT4007C (Computing Networking Fundamentals): I have a new respect for the people who came up with Wi-Fi. That’s complicated stuff.
• MAR3023 (Principles of Marketing): People put a lot of thought into getting you to buy things.
• CIS4930 (Introduction to Computational Intelligence): Handwriting recognition is all math!
• CIS4930 (Natural Language Processing with Python): Python is actually pretty intuitive. It should be called the anti-Lisp.
• CIS4914 (Senior Project): Don’t procrastinate.

Thanks for reading. That’ll be $20,000.

The BBC reports on the secrets of Britain’s abandoned villages.

One of the things I had to do was complete a senior project. I chose to develop a ride-sharing website in a similar vein as CouchSurfing. I need to make sure the university doesn’t own the rights to it; otherwise I’d like to roll it out myself sometime later.

Since I work on campus, this week is my last week of work. (I think I’ll have to come in on Monday for a little bit, but probably not for long.) At this month’s meeting, on April 14, the other graduating seniors and I were honored with certificates, windbreakers, and catering from Olive Garden. Three of my favorite things right there. They’re going to miss me at work, and I’ll miss being there, but I can’t pass up the opportunity to move out to Seattle and work at Amazon.

I can’t pretend that I haven’t been thinking about the move—I’ve been obsessing over it, actually—but I’ve been trying to reflect on the past four years as well. You know, to wax poetic the way I usually do. I’ve done some fun stuff and made a lot of friends. I don’t think I would have done anything differently if I could do it all again. Maybe I would have gone out more (I played a lot of Minesweeper my freshman year). I think I’ve turned out okay, though.

Right now, I’m kind of in a weird place: My classes are over, but instead of heading home as I usually would have done by now, I’m staying in Gainesville, going to work every day, and waiting for the graduation ceremony. My sister is graduating on Saturday; I’m graduating on Sunday. (Surely she’ll brag about this for years to come, just like how she tells everyone that she’s a minute older than I am.)

I can already tell that college graduation is different from high school graduation: it’s not mandatory, no rehearsals you have to attend, no maximum number of people you can bring, no bullshit. Well, there is some bullshit: Herff-Jones is back and selling college rings. But you and we that have free souls, it touches us not.

So, on Sunday, I shall stride across a stage wearing funny clothes and pretend to receive a diploma. Call it what you want, but I call it closure.

And hey, if you can’t make it or just want to be a total creeper, you can watch my graduation online! Click that link at 5:00 PM EDT on Sunday; that’s when it’s supposed to start.

And while I have your attention, it’s time to bust the myth that fast-food burgers don’t rot because they’ve got nasty stuff in them. Actually, it looks like homemade burgers don’t rot either. (Via The Presurfer)

At this juncture, I’d like to give you a quick update on yours truly. As I alluded to earlier, I’m bogged down with schoolwork, but it’ll all be over soon. The last day of classes is two weeks from today, and I actually don’t have any exams during exam week! Finally!

Mostly I’ve been working on my senior project. The phrase “senior project” has been on my mind so much, in fact, that it’s starting to become hilarious. It’s something about the letter “R,” I think. I had the same problem once when I was working with MATLAB. varargin. Say it a hundred times, and you’ll get what I mean.

When I’m done with my education and they’ve found someone to replace me at work, I’ll have some more time to write about what’s been going on (and what went on during winter break—I know I’m really far behind on that!). And as I move to Seattle and start my career, I’m sure I’ll have a whole lot to say.

One more thing: I haven’t done away with my trademark “Links at the End of the Post.” It just so happens that 7 out of my last 8 posts have been what I call “11:59 posts.” I like to shove my posts out the door by midnight. I know you’ve been missing the links, so here are a few to keep you busy:

Young People on Car Ownership: Meh. That describes me pretty well.

If the most populous countries had the greatest area, China would be the size of Russia, India would be the size of Canada, the US would be the size of itself, and so on down the list. Here’s a map that illustrates that idea. It really gives you a sense of the relative populations of different countries. (Via The Presurfer)

Anyway, not everything is settled yet, so it would probably be best if I didn’t comment about it at length.

One of the things I’ll miss about UF is their ability to attract great speakers and entertainers. On Wednesday, magicians Penn & Teller came to campus.

To get a free ticket, I had to stand in what was probably the longest line I had ever been in, from the entrance of the Phillips Center all the way out to the street (which you’ll have to believe is a really long way). But the line moved quickly because they were just handing out tickets to everyone. Then I had to stand in another really long line for an hour to wait for the doors to open. Some people behind me ordered a pizza. No joke.

Preceding Penn & Teller was a montage of various TV appearances they’d made over the years, and then they came out wearing orange and blue baseball caps. Throughout the appearance, they did a couple of tricks, the most impressive of which consisted of Teller taking an apple with needles sticking out of it, swallowing the needles, eating the apple, swallowing a thread, and then pulling the thread out of his mouth with all of the needles threaded on it. Well, that’s what he seemed to be doing. But he was wearing short sleeves! Nothing could have been hiding in those sleeves, man.

But mostly they were answering questions from a guy who was coming up with them on the spot and reading some that he claimed to have collected from people waiting in line. Then audience members got to ask some questions. A lot of questions dealt with their origins, their philosophies, and their TV show. And although Teller’s trademark is being silent, he did speak. Turns out he’s soft-spoken, as you might have guessed. Well, Penn can make anyone else sound like that.

After the show, Penn came down from the stage, ran through the aisle high-fiving people, and stood outside the entrance of the theater so people could take pictures with him on their way out. I assume Teller did the same thing on the other side of the theater, but he’s a lot less conspicuous, so I don’t actually know. I thought it was pretty cool that a celebrity is so willing to have his picture taken with fans. I’d think he would have gotten bored of it by now.

Speaking of celebrities, my friend Reid Ewing (whom you may have seen in a bunch of episodes of ABC’s hit comedy Modern Family) has a song out and a video to go with it! I don’t really get it, but check it out! And here he is on some guy’s YouTube video vlog show thing. It’s really funny! But don’t watch it at work!

For the past few days, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about where I want to live after I graduate. I’ve been thinking about it morning, noon, and night. My head is even starting to hurt.

At first, I declared that I wanted to stay here in Gainesville, but after Wendy suggested that I could get a job anywhere, it really made me think. I eventually admitted:

My life’s calendar after this May 1 is pretty much blank. I have no idea what I want to do for a living or who will hire me—or, honestly, where I’m going to live. I think that by eliminating one of those unknowns, by replacing it with the easiest answer, I hoped to make it a little less stressful to think about my future.

But once I became aware of the illusion I had put up for myself, the illusion was ruined. I realized that maybe I could go anywhere after all, and that just made everything weigh even more heavily on me. There are infinitely many paths ahead of me, and choosing one over the others could change the course of my entire life. How will I know I’m doing what’s best for me?

I wouldn’t want to live just anywhere in Gainesville. I’d want to live downtown and get around by walking and public transit. One reason is that I’m a committed non-driver. The reasons for that are outside the scope of this post, and in fact, I might not even know them all myself. But the fact is that I don’t want a car.

Another reason I want to live downtown is that it’s good for society. Walking is good exercise and allows you to see and experience interesting things; if everything is in walking distance, then you’re not burning fossil fuels to get around; if more people lived in cities, we wouldn’t have to destroy as much of the environment to make room for ourselves; etc.

My third reason is quite simple: I think it would be fun. I’d like to be able to live every day knowing that something interesting is going on my neighborhood, be it an art exhibition or a show or a sale or two-for-one taco night or whatever. I think being a part of downtown events would be a good way to meet people and a great way to spend time with any friends who might visit.

I grew up in the general vicinity of Miami, and I’ve been to the city quite a few times. I like it. I’ve even thought about living there, or maybe even in Miami Beach. Now, it occurs to me that it’s a real possibility.

Did you know that you can search for apartments on Google Maps? I’ve been checking out rates for one-bedroom apartments in downtown Miami. According to my calculations that are probably wrong, I could afford to live there, even with a below-average salary. Maybe!

Career Showcase is next week. It’s an event that they have every semester on campus, and it’s basically a huge job fair where local and big companies try to recruit students. That seems to be the main way that students end up getting jobs, at least in my program. You put on a suit, go to Career Showcase, ace an interview with BigCorp, Inc., and before you know it, you’re hanging up your diploma in a cubicle at their fancy HQ in Distant Location, USA. Well, that’s the hope, anyway.

I’ve never been to Career Showcase, so this time I’m planning on going. I checked out the list of companies that are going to be there. It looks like there’s only one Miami-based company with an open position I might be qualified for, but it’s waaaaay far away from downtown and inaccessible by bus. So I went to monster.com. I searched for jobs in the Miami area for a computer science graduate with no experience. Nothing.

So my thoughts drift back to Gainesville. It looks like there are a handful of local companies with possible job opportunities for me, but I’m not sure if I would like any of them. I really want to do interesting work that I can be proud of, but now I’m beginning to understand how hard it is to find a job. Maybe I’ll just have to take what I can get, wherever it is. Beggars can’t be choosers, and at this rate, I’m literally going to be a beggar.

Please tell me I’m wrong about that. My head still hurts.

A revelation from The Consumerist: Most “Close Door” Buttons Don’t Work, And Most Office Thermostats Are Fakes.

A long, long time ago, there were no clouds residing in the sky as we know it today. There were, however, two Proprietary Kings of the Sky. The sky was leased to them by the federal government, who had acquired it as a result of a lawsuit against the government of Monaco, where it had once served as their vast realm.

The names of the two Kings, in order of the letters of the alphabet, were Arrogance and Stupidity. They were arrogant and stupid.

One bouncy day, the messenger, Stusut, came to the Sky Kingdom of the Sky bearing a message. His message, presented as a singing telegram, was a warning issued by the Scared Cult of the Church of the Fools on the Hill, Inc. It declared to the arrogant and stupid Kings that their contract of lease to the great sky would be interrupted if the President of the United States of A. did not approvingly approve of their charter.

Upon hearing this news, Stupidity shoutingly exclaimed, “What hath God wrought?!”

Upon hearing this exclamatory exclamation, Arrogance answered, “It’s the end of the world as we know it. And in the end, the love thou doth take is approximately equal to 3.1416.”

Confused by this bout [of] confusion, the messenger Stusut asked what they could say in reply to the Scared Cult of the Church of Fools on the Hill, Inc., begging Mr. Prez for acceptance of their Presidential charter. Because of slow communication by messenger in those days, they opted to choose to use e-mail instead.

Now in those days there was a Web site on the Web called thescaredcultofthechurchoffoolsonthehillinc.net, for the address of the .com extension was already taken. From this site, Arrogance and Stupidity sent a piece of electronic mail to the President begging him to keep them as the Proprietary Kings of the Sky. Prez had an e-mail address there, for he was a cult member of the cult.

Days passed, weeks, months, and even a few hours. Finally, there came a reply. The reply said to them that Prez would accept their rulership for another six (6) years under one condition. Arrogance and Stupidity would have to perform servile labor at the local Bucks of Star (a coffee shop, that is).

As all good Sky Kings do, they headed on foot the local Bucks of Star in their locality. Stupidity was pouring a cup of coffee when the messenger Stusut arrived, proclaiming Prez’s warning: “Should thou screw up on this job of servile labor, bad stuff will happen.” It was in listening to this message that Stupidity’s cup runneth over, resulting in a large fire. The Sky Kingdom of the Sky burnt to the ground, leaving but clouds of smoke as a misfortunate reminder. End.

I’m taking a class called Artificial Intelligence. Well, something like that. It’s probably officially called Introduction to Artificial Intelligence or Principles of Artificial Intelligence or something like that. I have the course syllabus next to my desk, so I could easily check, but to add an air of mystery to this post, I won’t.

Now that you’re intrigued enough to keep reading, I will describe how this class has been keeping me busy. It’s one of those classes where a lot of your grade depends on a project that you work on for much of the semester. In this case, we have to write a program to play a game intelligently.

Specifically, the game is a Tetris-like game called Letris, which is not like any of the Letrises you’ll find if you Google it. I think the professor just made it up. Instead of blocks, you have sequences of letters (read in from a file) that you have to put on a board, and whenever there are three or more letters in a row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, they disappear for points and the letters on top of them fall to take their places. The game ends when you run out of sequences or you’ve filled up the board and can’t play any of them.

Our programs are allowed to peek up to three moves ahead to decide which move to make, but they’re only allowed 10 CPU seconds per move. They can be written in any language (that the instructor approves), but extra credit will be given for programs written in Lisp.

I wrote mine in Java… Hey. Don’t give me that look. Just don’t. You know what? If you’re going to act like that, why don’t you just leave? It’s just a choice of programming language, not a life-or-death situation. And you know what? Maybe I’m really good at Java. Maybe I figured out how to make it work well with Java. Did you ever think about that? Huh?

I didn’t, but it seems to work well enough. The hardest part, and what I spent the better part of two weeks on, was the lookahead stuff. For some reason, I couldn’t wrap my head around that very easily. It was so complicated (to me) that I actually spent days and days just coding and coding without even having anything ready to compile and try out.

Once I got that working, the only thing left was the evaluation function, i.e., how the game decides which move is a good one to make. It’s good to score a lot of points, but in the long run it seems like it would be better to keep the letters (blocks) low so you can score even more points in the future. However, I was on such a time crunch by then that the little testing I was able to do proved in. I ended up weighting those factors and several others equally.

The interesting part will come when the professor stages a “tournament” of all our programs, ranking them by how many points they score on certain data sets. I have absolutely no idea how my implementation will fare against everyone else’s, especially those who had the smart idea of using C or Lisp, so we’ll see how that goes.

Every time Bruce Schneier opens his mouth, amazing words come out. Actually, well, this is written, but it’s good nonetheless. Schneier half-jokingly proposes that we close the Washington Monument due to security concerns. When it comes to security, this guy hits the nail on the head.

It was also my Senior Day, so to speak, since I’m a senior too. By the time the next home game rolls around, it’ll be next September, and I will have graduated. Never again will I sit in the student section at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, better known as the Swamp. I figured I should take in the gameday atmosphere for what could be the last time in a long time… or ever.

My seat was only a few rows behind the famous “Work ‘Em Silly, Gators” sign that the same guy tapes to the same wall at every game. It’s such a fixture that if you play a game at the Swamp in NCAA Football 08, you’ll see it there too. I know that because my roommate from freshman year played the game a lot.

After the Gators worked Appalachian State silly, I tried to take a picture of the sign as someone (presumably its caretaker) was starting to remove the tape. Suddenly, a girl a few rows below us asked him to stop for a minute so she could take a picture of herself in front of it. I was able to get some pictures too.

I can’t believe that I’ve gone to my last football game as a student. I know that I’m going to be graduating in the spring, but I’m having a hard time actually realizing it. It’s just hard to imagine what my post-collegiate life will be like, I guess. I’ve gotten used to college, and soon, everything is going to change.

Here’s a six-minute cartoon about what Mormons believe (or believed). There’s lots of polygamy and racism. The description of the video contains citations for everything.