Category - Family

For a while there, I was in transit, but now I'm home. Home for the holidays. I got home on Saturday, and I've been settling back in. We got a Christmas tree the other day after going to about four places looking for the perfect one. This one is so tall that it almost touches the ceiling. We haven't put the star or angel on top yet. Soon enough...

Yesterday I went to the mall with Nick, Mike, and Mike's girlfriend Ashley. They've been together for over a year now. Down the hall in my dorm there's a girl named Ashley who has a boyfriend named Michael. FULL CIRCLE??

Anyway, I haven't really thought about Christmas shopping that much. I did send a gift to Natasha (a.k.a. Jordon's Canadian Friend), though. But now that there are two Poor College Students™ in the family, we've decided it's going to be a rather giftless Christmas. Which is fine. I've been telling them for years that I really don't want that much, and only now is it okay. As for the rest of my friends, I have gifts that I'm going to make. If I told you what they were, it would spoil the surprise. Although I already kind of blew it for Nick because he was asking me what he should buy me for Christmas, and I wasn't really sure.

Last night was the Pompano Beach boat parade. There weren't very many boats this year, probably because it was cold and windy. It was still nice, though. My family has been going to the boat parade every year since time immemorial. It's nice to do all these things that I thought I'd never do again because I'd be going to college.

And this evening, my final grades for the semester were posted. I got A's in all of my classes -- I actually got an A in America in the Fifties, the class I had to write a long paper for -- except that I got a "GRADE NOT REPORTED" in Calculus III. The prof is probably still grading the exams. We only took them on Thursday, and it takes him a while just to grade the regular tests. I hope I don't have to go through some sort of rigamarole because my teacher didn't submit the grades on time. I really want to know how I did, and I can't be held in suspense for too long. I'll get all stressed out. Calc III counts the most toward my GPA.

Take the Fake or Photo quiz to see if you can tell photographs from computer-generated images. I only got half of them right.

Watch a map showing anonymous edits to Wikipedia in almost real time with WikipediaVision.

Find out what people are saying about their neighbors at RottenNeighbor.com.

Yesterday was my final final exam of my inital semester of college. Calculus III, it was. I can hear you groaning. I felt the same way. I probably should have studied more, but I think I did okay. I needed to get 76% on the final to get an A in the class, and I should have enough partial credit from the tough questions to make that happen. Thank goodness for partial credit. Also thank goodness for the professor not caring whether you get the actual answer, just that you know how to set up the problem.

A lot of people left the dorm yesterday. My suitemates all did, so I was by myself last night. I cleaned up and got things presentable so I could check out in the morning. It took me about an hour to clean up, put the fridge in the bathroom, take out the garbage, and all of that. I spent most of the time rounding up stuff to bring home for the vacation.

This morning I had my 150th and last dining hall meal of the semester. I was worried that the 150-meal plan wouldn't be enough, but oh, it was. I've been having to eat there three meals a day most days. After that, I was pretty much ready to go, and that's when Shannon, the RA, did a little "knock knock knock knock-knock, knock knock" on my door.

She's graduating this semester -- tomorrow, actually -- and then she's going back to Chicago, where you would guess she's from if you heard her accent. Next fall, she hopes to go to law school. So as she made sure I had unplugged everything and cleaned up, I told her how much I was going to miss her and wished her good luck in law school and told her to stop by for a visit now and then. "Oh, pesh," she said. I assume it's Midwestern for "shucks." She said the same thing to my roommate when he said the same things I said to her today yesterday.

Anyway, she was a good RA. I never saw her around much, which is a testament to her goodness. (I wouldn't want a nosy RA or anything.) She was nice, though, and she was cool to what was going on in good old Udall House (Hume East, second floor, near side). In fact, some people decided to take her out to Dragonfly, her favorite restaurant in the whole wide world, last Saturday night. I had just been there a week before. But this was Heisman Trophy night, and we had to get back home to see whether our Tim Tebow would win. In any case, we did have plenty of time to eat sushi (and have lots of fried ice cream for dessert). Shannon really appreciated it.

So my grandparents picked me up and now I'm at their house till tomorrow morning, when my parents will pick me up from here. I was going to use my own computer, but the neighbor's Wi-Fi is now password-protected, so that's out. So I'm using my grandparents' computer: IE7 on Vista with AOL dial-up. Barf. What's more, my e-mail seems to be down. There are no instant messaging programs on this computer, and I think the connection's too slow for online applications.

My personal e-mail account better not have died for good. I just paid $20 for another year of service. I'd better not think about it any more.

Today's the first day of December. It's the last month of the year. Hard to believe, isn't it? The year's gone by so fast.

Last night my aunt took my sister and me downtown, where we checked out art galleries and had sushi at this hip, semi-fancy place called Dragonfly. The sushi was delicious, and that stuff is filling. I wasn't totally full, because there's only so much food you can buy at that kind of place. I'd have to say I was pleasantly full, though.

The art galleries were hit or miss. There were some where the artists were presenting their work in their studios. There were nice. Their works were of typical subjects like landscapes, still lifes, and nudes. (If you did nothing but look at art all day, you'd probably get the impression that women like to strip naked and lie around the house with thoughtful looks on their faces. It isn't so.) Other places had artsy-looking people looking at odd sculptures.

But my favorite artists were the two who were spray-painting on a street corner. One had canvases, and the other was working on paper, but they could turn out an otherworldly landscape (each in his own style) in about 10 minutes. My aunt was looking at a large canvas that had some mountains and interesting Chinese-looking characters. She had a conversation with the artist about tai chi and ended up taking the painting home. The smell of spray paint filled the car, but it was worth it. It's just one of those paintings you can spend hours looking at.

Today I finished the first draft of my research paper for America in the Fifties. It took me many weeks of procrastination and a few weeks of on-and-off work. I finished it after a marathon writing session that lasted all afternoon and into the evening.

Anyway, it's about teenage drug abuse in the 1950s. It's called, "The Teenage Drug Abuse Epidemic of the 1950s: Menace or Myth?" I added the alliterative rhetorical question (always a favorite of people who title things) after I found that my sources conflicted about whether or not there was a drug menace at all. I make the point that it was more on the menace side. The draft is 17 pages with 79 citations from 20 sources. I hold here in my hands (while I'm not typing) the draft, and it's pretty fat. It's definitely the longest paper I've ever written, and after I revise it, it'll probably be longer. Hopefully it won't ramble, though.

I have to present it tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow, Sunday. That's what happens when your class runs out of time to present papers. I have to deliver a presentation based on the paper to whoever feels like showing up to our meeting that is technically optional. Then a classmate whom I've sent my draft to will present a critique. After everyone else has presented, we'll have lunch and do some additional research, I think. It should be pretty cool, but I'm not keen on having to meet at 10:30 in the morning.

I hope the professor thinks my paper is okay. I probably should have written on a topic he knows nothing about. One girl in the class has an advantage there because she's writing about cars. But the prof is a historian, so he can find a way to make the psychology of the 1950s American car-buyer tie into other contemporary attitudes. You know how it is.

For those of you looking forward to Christmas, isitchristmas.com will tell you whether it's Christmas. There's also an RSS feed so you can keep track.

Looking for photos you can use? Try flikrCC, which searches for Creative Commons-licensed images on Flickr.

Here are 15 examples of manipulated photographs.

So, yeah, it's November 24, and it's night. If anyone asks me where I was on the night of November 24, I was here at home. I came home for Thanksgiving. Actually, I went to my grandparents' house for Thanksgiving, and now I'm at home. Tomorrow I'll be going back to school. Oh well...

I have a research paper to write, but I haven't touched it since I left for the long weekend. Maybe tomorrow? Ha ha, that's a good one. Next week I will crack down, though. I will do some intense research-paper-writing, so don't expect some long or well-thought-out posts. And after that: final exams. Oh yes, college is fun sometimes.

One thing to distract me from that is VoIP, which means "Using your computer to talk to people like you're on the phone." For those who have been following the saga, I originally used Skype, until concerns about the Linux version drove me to free alternatives such as WengoPhone, which uses open standards (as opposed to Skype's closed network that no one else can use). But I have just one gripe with WengoPhone: it doesn't work. It kept crashing, and after I upgraded, the latest version won't even connect. So I've gotten into Ekiga, which uses the same protocol (SIP) as WengoPhone and a host of other programs. I've got my SIP (and H.323) addresses on the About Me page now, along with a status indicator (which I've also zealously placed on every single page), so do give me a buzz and say hello.

Check out 10 uncracked codes. Can you crack them? Probably not!

Seems like everybody's remaking their logo these days. Here are, according to somebody, The Best and Worst Logo Remakes of the Century (so far).

Have a look at some Maps of Europe by linguistic groups, population density, smoking bans, eye color, and more.

Last Thursday I picked out my schedule for next semester. Unfortunately, I was one of the last people to be able to register, so I didn't have many choices. That explains why I'll be taking physics at 8:30 in the morning. (Still, it's better than the 7:25 chemistry class I have this semester.) All in all, it looks like I'll have some longer days next semester but also some short days. My Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays will be long and busy. Thursdays won't be so bad, and on Tuesdays I won't have class. That'll be my catch-up day, I guess. Well, hopefully, I won't fall behind in the first place.

But anyway, I'll be taking physics (with lab), biology, some computer programming class that I think will be easy, and a class on differential equations. Diff. E.Q. is my honors course (required for me to stay in the honors program), so I actually got to select it early. I hope I do well in it. I guess it should be easier than Calculus III, but we'll see, won't we?

On Saturday was the football game I've been looking forward to the most even though was one of the least important games of the season. For the first time, the Florida Gators played the Owls of Florida Atlantic University. FAU is near where I live, so a lot of my friends go there. Kelli and Cristi came up here for the game (we got to hang out together afterward), and Nick and Mark came because they're part of the FAU band. I was glad I got a better seat than I had at the last game I went to. My sister and I sat 15 rows up from the 3-yard line. (It really was better than last time. Trust me.) As everyone pretty much expected, the game was a blowout, with the Gators beating the Owls 59-20. Andre Caldwell and Heisman Trophy front-runner Tim Tebow broke some records. But unfortunately, Florida's now out of the race for the conference championship. Oh well. I just hope we beat archrival Florida State this Saturday.

Our friend Alberto Gonzales came to speak yesterday. I didn't go -- I find the guy detestable, and so do a lot of other people, apparently. As I suspected, there were some incidents. Protesters were arrested for getting onstage. Two of them covered their faces with hoods and wore makeshift orange jumpsuits that said "Civil Liberties" on them. According to a local newspaper, as they were being arrested, Gonzales said, "Our young men and women fight overseas to preserve this kind of freedom of speech." But you know he was thinking about holding them for years without charges and regularly torturing them. That's what he would do if he hadn't resigned in disgrace.

I'm done with classes for the week. I'll be at my grandparents' house for Thanksgiving, and then I'll mosey on down home for the rest of the weekend. The Thanksgiving four-day weekend begins... Thursday, on Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, most schools don't seem to take the day before Thanksgiving off to allow people to go home to their families. But almost all the professors here have canceled their classes for tomorrow. Mine have, so I'm off the hook. I even had a lecture canceled today because so few people were there.

Check out this illusion involving a rubber hand. Apparently it's possible to trick your brain into thinking that a fake hand is your own.

Here are some breathtaking pictures of the Thousand Islands that straddle the New York-Ontario border. Seriously. I don't have any breath anymore.

It turns out that your appendix might be useful after all. But don't worry: if you've had it taken out, that's fine too.

So yesterday was Halloween. Halloween is fun if you're a little kid because you dress up in a costume and get free candy. Halloween is also fun if you're a college student because you party. But that's not generally true. I mean, I didn't party. I don't like to party -- I don't, I don't like to party. So I didn't do much last night other than try to forget how much money I owe. But in the afternoon, my sister and I went to see The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3-D. Wait, didn't I do that last year? The answer is yes. It was so cool that I wanted to see it again. It is pretty amazing that they can convert 2-D films to 3-D. In fact, I first heard about the technology a while a back when Guess Who showed interest in using it on his old films. That's right: George Lucas.

As is the way of these things, the festivities leading up to the holiday were probably better than the holiday itself. Every year, each floor in Hume Hall makes a haunted house for local kids to enjoy (?). My side of the floor wasn't really interested, so the other side used their common room (and their hallways) for the haunted house. We decided on the theme "Haunted Hospital." I checked it out on Tuesday, and it was really cool. It wasn't like people jumping out and shouting at you, but it was like people lying around on stretchers and bleeding. It was cooler than I made it sound. I would be scared if I were a little kid. The only other haunted house I checked out was a haunted summer camp where people come out of nowhere with giant guns or something. I think it was voted the scariest. Why do we put so much effort into frightening children, anyway?

Today, as my friend Ashley and I were walking back to our dorm from the library, we ended up walking next to a family. There was a mom and a dad talking, and a boy and a girl not much younger than we (or us). I couldn't help but hear that they were talking about the honors program. Then, since we were right there, the dad asked me and Ashley if we lived in Hume Hall, the honors dorm. We said yes. They were from Atlanta, and the dad introduced everyone to us. I don't remember their names, except that the wife's was Nikki (or however you want to spell it). They had just come from a campus tour and wanted to check out Hume, where the dad had lived in 35 years ago. We explained how Hume had recently been demolished and rebuilt, so everything was nice and shiny. They asked if they could possibly have a look at our floor and were very grateful that we obliged. They asked to see my room, and when I said they probably wouldn't want to, they assumed it was because it was messy. It is, but the real reason was because of the posters we have (my roommate has) on the wall. Anyway, they looked in Ashley's room, asked some questions about the honors program and meal plans and the like, and made their way out. They were very nice.

I'm done with class for the week. Oh yes, it's like high school again. (My high school had no classes on Fridays, a fact I took for granted so quickly that I don't think I even mentioned it here very much.) There are no classes tomorrow because it's homecoming. Gator Growl, The World's Largest Student-Run Pep Rally, will be tomorrow, and I'm not going because I really don't care about seeing a guy from MADtv and a group that claims to be Lynyrd Skynyrd, but the guy who always shouts "Free Bird" will be happy. No, instead, I'm going to try to get tickets to the homecoming game. I haven't been to a football game yet, so I need to fix that. I do enjoy football, you guys. Since I have to reserve a ticket by phone, it'll probably take quite a bit of calling. I hear the phone lines get jammed right away.

A guy decided to listen to Abba's song "Dancing Queen" non-stop during a multi-hour, solo road trip. Here's a video of the highlights.

There are "plenty" of examples of quotation mark abuse at The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks.

I'm at home yet another weekend. I took the bus this time. Well, not the bus. A bus. There are multiple bus services that take students between our middle-of-nowhere college town and various stops in South Florida. The ticket price of $45 is pretty reasonable considering the distance and the fact that it's a round trip. To my surprise, we got back to South Florida with little delay. I hope things go as well tomorrow evening, when we go back to Gainesville. I have class early on Monday, so I need to get enough sleep.

Some people say you should stop complaining about not having a girlfriend or boyfriend and do something about it. It is not that easy. I don't know about those people. Confidence is key. I forget where I heard that. I think I read it somewhere. But it seems true. If I were some girl, I probably wouldn't date me because I'd be like, "Like, OMG, he's so self-hating, even though he's, like, totally hawt." (Sometimes I feel totally hawt.) So I guess it works like this: self-confidence begets love. Love begets... oh, you guessed it. It's a vicious cycle. In order to break in, it seems, I'll have to conjure up some confidence out of thin air. There's a word for that, I think. It's called optimism.

In a completely unrelated note, I've realized how much I need to exercise. Without getting too much into the details, let me just say that the sight of my shirtless torso is enough to scare girls away. I wish I were kidding, but I am not. The last time our hero attempted some upper-body exercise, he overdid it and couldn't move his arms for a while. And that's been pretty sufficient to scare him (me) away from moving a muscle for the past two years. Just thinking about doing a push-up makes me hurt. Meanwhile, my roommate and our suitemate in the next room are, how you say, physically fit. The disparity is concerning.

Here's a list of celebrities who have attempted suicide (but failed).

Check out these French prints from 1910 showing what life might be like in the year 2000.

That's what he said!

Ah, college, where young minds grow and mature. They grow, anyway.

I guess I'm not managing my time very well. I have loads of time to do nothing on the Internet, but when I want to blog, I have to study. The solution: post really fast. The long-term solution: manage time better.

I went to a new chiropractor for the first time today. My sister and I both did, actually. Our chiropractor recommended him after having a former intern do some research. They got our X-rays in the mail, so they were expecting the twin college freshmen who apparently can't find the front door of the office and go in through the back. (That building was laid out weirdly, okay?) But I have to say that the chiropractor is a nice guy. He's easy to get along with. His methods are a little different than what I'm used to, but it seems to be just different rather than better or worse. I haven't been to a chiropractor in over 3 weeks, and I can't remember ever going without an adjustment for that long. I sure needed the adjustment, and was it a thorough one. Here's hoping it'll last me a few more weeks.

I remember high school football games fondly. Small-time teams playing for small-time crowds, and lots of space on the bleachers. With college football, this is not so. It's a big thing. I could get a ticket to a high school football game by showing up ten minutes early and paying five dollars. Not so with college football. No, in fact, it's unheard of at the University of Florida for a game not to be entirely sold out. Getting tickets isn't exactly easy because absolutely everyone else is trying to get them. There's no room for passive fans like me in college football; to get tickets, you really have to want them.

There's a number or something that you have to call, supposedly on the Thursday before the game. I'm not sure what the number is, and I've also read that all of the upcoming home rivalry games are already sold out? That leaves the game with the (probably) unranked FAU Owls, which, against all odds, is the only game I've really been looking forward to seeing. FAU is near my home, and a lot of my friends are going there, so I'd like to find out the outcome of this unlikely matchup. (Sorry, FAU, but I didn't even know you had a football team. In any case, you're probably being used by UF to make them look good before the UF-FSU game.)

I haven't taken a lot of pictures of the campus yet, but I intend to do so once I can get a whole day and some pleasant weather. In the meantime, check out these pretty schweet photos of the UF campus.

The LibriVox project aims to make public domain recordings of public domain books.

Logomotto mixes up logos and mottos. Refresh the page for a new and exciting combination.

That's what she said!

Let's see. This weekend, my sister and I went to our grandparents' house, and we met our parents and our cousins there. Grocery shopping was done today. It's easy to get carried away when you need food and you haven't been in a proper grocery store in weeks.

Backtracking to last week, I had an astounding three tests. On Tuesday, I had a Social Geography test, on which I scored 32 out of 33 (which is pretty good because that's a third of my grade). On Thursday, I had a calculus test, and though the results have yet to come in, I'm feeling good about it. On Friday night (yes, Friday night), I had a chemistry test. I don't have chemistry (or any class) on Friday night, but there are so many people in the class (it's a basic chemistry course) that I guess that's the only time they could have it. Nevertheless, the test delayed my aforementioned weekend plans. But right after the test, I found out that the answer key was posted online. Since I hadn't yet thrown away my scratch work, I was able to determine that I aced the test. That's a quarter of my grade in the bag.

Apparently all these tests aren't so bad. You just have to take them one at a time.

It's time for another exciting edition of Ask Jordon!

Olivia: What're you on about?

Er... dunno. I'm a right raving nutter, I s'pose.

Ivan Karamazov: Why do some believe Ron Paul will follow up on his promises of the One True reading of the Constitution? Do they realize it will mean cuts? Who IS he?

Well, brother, they say that if you Google Ron Paul, you'll find out about him. Me, I don't believe a word of it. As for his kind, I think they're a dying breed. Nobody wants cuts. Well, people do, but the dudes and the ladies that run the two-party system haven't really invited them to participate in our democracy. Oops! (Okay, I'm a hypocrite. I've joined the Democratic Party, much to the chagrin of the growing number of people who think that if you're not an independent, you're a narrow-minded hypocrite. Wait...)

Ever wonder how valuable coins change hands? Here's the story about a $1.9 million dime.

How to Predict the Weather Without a Forecast.

For the Labor Day weekend, my sister and I have come home. It sure is different from my dorm at UF's Hume Hall, but I'm getting used to college life pretty nicely. In fact, I'm surprised at how used I am to it already. Maybe college really will be the time of my life.

Even then, it's nice to be back home, if only for a few days. Here I have no worries or cares, and my mom can cook for me and do my laundry. What's not to love? Plus, my friend Nick had a barbecue at his house this afternoon. It was pretty much an indoor barbecue, but we did swim in his pool, which was nice. Later, we went to the beach... at night. It seems that I've been to the beach at night more often than during the day. It's probably true, in fact.

I got here yesterday afternoon, and after a short day (today), I have to leave tomorrow morning. I'm pretty mad about that. I'm also mad because I'm tired, but I don't want to believe that myself.

Let's cut to the Ask Jordon.

ALISON : R U HAPPY?

Overall, yes. I'm glad that college isn't so bad, and I'm seeing it as an exciting time to make new friendships and learn valuable life lessons. Next.

ARianna: you have made a "minor scale chart thing" and I was hopeing you had a "major scale chart thing somwhere as well. DO you?

No. Maybe I'll make one sometime, but I only made the minor one because I couldn't find a very good one on the web. Finding a major scale chart was easier.

Ashley McGee: Gilligan's Island was cancelled right before the 4th season was to start. Would the castways have made it off if they knew it was the final show?

I don't think so. They had all that time to make radios out of coconuts and everything, and there were always exciting visitors who would come for a day or two and then get picked up from the island or something. I think our favorite castaways just wanted to stay on the island to protect their staid, secure selves from the sociopolitical upheaval that was occurring in the United States from 1964-1967. It's the only explanation that makes sense.

If you eat really fast like me, you might want to check out 5 Powerful Reasons to Eat Slower.