Brian's Life

PWA pics

2008-03-31T14:55:00.000-07:00

http://picasaweb.google.com/bdot.02/BriansWedding
http://picasaweb.google.com/lenchikster/JessicaAndBrianMarch8th2008
http://picasaweb.google.com/philip.vargas/RoadTripToSFBrianJessicaSWedding

Wedding pics

2008-03-26T09:37:00.001-07:00

The most useful page on renting in SF

2007-10-16T00:53:00.000-07:00

This page has several useful links, one of the best of which is http://www.metrorent.com

Unsubscribe from Valpak savings junk mail

2007-04-17T22:25:00.000-07:00

Cox Target Media aka ValPak Savings : Mailing Removal Request Form

Another way to seek victory over the paper junk in your mailbox... Fill out this form.
Make sure to try as many variations of your address as you can come up with!

Unsubscribe from ADVO

2007-04-17T22:20:00.000-07:00

Unsubscribe from ADVO aka Shopwise

If you're getting junk mail that comes with a "Have you seen these children?" card, it's coming from ADVO. Here's their unsubscribe site. Good luck. I'm convinced they'll only take you off the list if you send them a court order. I've tried calling and just found this form tonight. Calling didn't work. Hopefully this form will!

Almost April Fools...

2007-03-28T14:33:00.001-07:00

http://maps.google.com/?q=Mountain+View+to+Zurich

From Mountain View to Zurich - read closely and you'll see...
36. Swim across the Atlantic Ocean 3,462 mi

Official Google Blog: Google Pack cures the PC blues

2007-03-27T08:34:00.000-07:00

Official Google Blog: Google Pack cures the PC blues
Try out the new screensaver!

Merry Christmas searches

2006-12-18T14:52:00.000-08:00

http://www.google.com/search?q=christmas

Thanks to Googlified

A hybrid can save you money

2006-12-14T11:05:00.000-08:00

http://blog.wired.com/cars/2006/12/my_hybrid_saved.html

Corporate sex-offenders

2006-12-14T10:42:00.000-08:00

http://www.perverted-justice.com/index.php?pg=cso

The fate of the electric vehicle

2006-12-12T00:13:00.000-08:00

It's important to try to stay somewhat aware of what's going around in the corporate world around us. One of my major concerns of late has been the environment and the energy crisis that all countries will soon face. To that end, I've started to do some research about the electric vehicle that GM developed in the late '90s, trying to dig up what happened, why they shredded the vehicles, and where the patent for the batteries went.

While I'd love to assemble some sort of synthesis of the data, it makes more sense to put together a list of references that have tried to shine some light into the dark world of big oil.

For starters, here's a sort-of-sloppy site http://www.ev1.org/ which, honestly, looks like a conspiracy-theorist gone wild. Give it a chance. The site claims that mutual funds owning 42% of GM own more than 10x that market share in oil companies, and had a strong incentive to use this controlling position in GM to shut down the electric vehicle. While I don't hasten to believe that it's a matter of collusion among Wall Street mavens, I can't help but see that big oil has a strong interest in having the EV silenced. Billions, nay trillions, are on the line here. Of course, on the other hand, so are the glaciers in Montana's Glacier National Park.

Next, take some time to do a search on the US Patent & Trade Office's website and notice that numerous patents on NiMH battery technology are held by a company in Michigan called Ovonic Battery Company, Inc. or Texaco Ovonic Battery Company, Inc.Here's The Motley Fool's assessment of Ovonic, a company that has been sitting on NiMH battery patents. While they take a rather technically pessimistic slant, others suggest that sitting on these patents genuinely hurts progress.

A one-year old post to Americans for Energy Independence talks about the beneficial effects that could be realized from moving from oil-based energy to solar- and electric-based energy.

Toshiba has developed a battery that uses nanotechnology to recover as much as 80% of its full capacity within a minute.

What we are seeing is a convergence of the technology that is needed to turn the electric vehicle into a reality. All that is needed now is a "good" company that's willing to make some money off of a good thing - that is, helping America to achieve energy independence... A place not constrained by the legacy of big oil or deep-seated greed and uncertainty. Hopefully we'll see these vehicles hitting the road soon.

More links:
Doug Korthof, a leading EV spokesman (interview)

DontCrush, promoting plug-in cars

Tesla, demonstrating EV can be hot... Get yours for only $92k

Phoenix MotorCars, another company on the cusp

Chevron's press release, re: Ovonic

What's the riddle in "The Riddle"?

2006-12-10T23:16:00.000-08:00

I listen to the radio a fair amount and the song "The Riddle" [lyrics] [block that page's pop-ups with Google Toolbar] by Five For Fighting has come on frequently of late. Now, I don't often think about songs I hear on the radio, but last time I heard this one I started thinking about the lyrics.
"The Riddle" as a whole seems to be (and is, according to FFF's myspace page) a message of love from a father to his son, painting a picture of close personal moments with their children that I think many fathers aspire to...

Yet he also touches unflinchingly on the personal. The CD's debut single "The Riddle" is a song he wrote for his children, while the companion video features his beloved blue Mustang (a car passed down to John from his father and the inspiration for the song "65 Mustang). Says John of the single, "A lot of my songs touch on mortality, but at its heart it's a love song from a father to his son." [link]

This aspect of the song nearly brings tears to my eyes, because it reflects a part of the father I hope someday to be. While this is a nice explanation of the meaning as a whole, I still can't help but get put off by the shallowness of some answers to the question "What's the riddle?"
So I ask: Is there a riddle other than pondering "the reason for the world" contained in the song? And if so, is there an answer deeper than "You and I"? And if not, what did some of those other 100 drafts look like?

Props to a good post

2006-12-08T12:30:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to increase the visibility of this post about using WiX to write an installer, and how to make it easily upgradeable.
http://blogs.msdn.com/johnls/archive/2006/11/13/how-to-upgrade-software-with-a-windows-installer-package.aspx

The Loafer Principle

2006-12-07T00:44:00.000-08:00

A book my uncle wrote, and an enjoyable read.

Order one today :) at http://loaferman.googlepages.com/home

Quicktime

2006-12-03T23:01:00.000-08:00

One thing that Apple never seems to get right with quicktime:
REMEMBER MY PREFERENCES AND DON'T SHOW ME THE CLUTTERY SYSTRAY ICON!!!!

I don't care if you wipe out all my preferences when you install a new version, if you'll keep that one preference set.

Bilingual Education - Anderson Cooper 360° Blog

2006-10-16T21:58:00.000-07:00

CNN.com - Anderson Cooper 360° Blog - Bilingual Education

Several of the comments I've seen in the CNN discussion observe that bilingual education is very important in numerous countries, including most of Europe. There are two flaws with using this argument to support Spanish-language elementary education.

The first relates to size. Europe is so small and tightly knit that knowing two or three languages is nearly essential to doing business on the continent. Compare this to the US, where English is the de facto standard of business.

The second flaw with this argument is the implicit assumption that these students are learning both languages. If 90% of teaching is in Spanish, and 100% of home life is in Spanish, the chances of a student learning English well are dwarfingly small.

That said, it is clear that teaching only English will overwhelm and, in many cases, put Spanish-speaking students permanently behind their English-speaking counterparts.

What is perhaps more appropriate is to provide classes in Spanish and phase these out gradually, but firmly. That is, students should be taught in Spanish for a few years, but during those years, they will be put on an aggressive English-teaching program. As they gain proficiency in English, an increasing portion of their classes will be taught in English, starting with reading, writing, and social studies, and eventually moving to math and science (which can be taught in Spanish with less of a detriment to the student's long-term learning).

Bob Hartley, from Pittsburgh, makes an important statement in his comment on the CNN site:
"Hysteria regarding immigrants has gone on in this country ever since the Irish came in the mid-Nineteenth century.
It's an old song used to mask intolerance."

The problem we face in America is more urgent and cuts deeper than the discussion of bilingual education. According to Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat, we have an educational crisis on our hands and are not acting quickly enough to solve it. On average, our students are on pace with the world in fourth grade, but by 12th grade they have fallen far behind in technical disciplines.

There are several factors that must be addressed in order to improve America's educational quality. The first and most important is parental involvement. Parents must encourage and motivate their child's education (including Spanish-speaking parents, who should enroll in their own ESL courses). The disintegration of the family in America (47.5% of households are now married) plays a huge part in this, but that is a conversation for another day.

The second touchpoint we must address is much harder for individuals to impact. The US educational system as a whole has inherent flaws. Education in the US tends to reward technical training differently and less than corporate America. This makes it hard for education to get and retain the talent we need to train our children well in math and science, and to excite and motivate them to consider it as a career option. Additionally, we see far too few girls motivated to excel in technical disciplines and pursue them in higher education.

Friedman's book is important in that it calls Americans to action. If this generation and the next are to overcome an unfounded sense of entitlement and face the 21st century, we must make significant changes to how education is run, so that students are challenged and taught effectively. How this is to be done is up for discussion, and US government may or may not be capable, given its failures.

(BLOG) RED

2006-10-13T23:10:00.000-07:00

(BLOG) RED

This is a great movement to end extreme poverty around the world. It'd be great to see it succeed; IMO this should be as important a part of our foreign policy as diplomacy and defense.

Friend Mapper

2006-10-05T10:40:00.000-07:00

Friend Mapper

This site is a cool mashup of Google Maps + Facebook...It's kind of neat to see where people I know are from or are located currently.

Biofuels: Think Outside The Barrel - Google Video

2006-09-19T14:00:00.000-07:00

Biofuels: Think Outside The Barrel - Google Video
This guy, Vinod Khosla's initiative proposal for clean energy in California (see 0:53:30) is very important and I hope we'll see this pass in the upcoming election, to the chagrin of the oil companies, who would love to keep making money off growing oil prices, despite the climate crisis it's causing.

UH -Top Education Stories - Can Tough Grades Be Fair Grades?

2006-09-19T09:54:00.000-07:00

UH -Top Education Stories - Can Tough Grades Be Fair Grades?
A great story about education at my alma mater.

Hybrid

2006-08-16T13:27:00.000-07:00

Track my miles here:

Optical mark recognition (OMR) software

2006-08-12T10:40:00.001-07:00

My friend and I are seeing if we can put together an open source OMR solution for teachers to use.
http://www1.cs.ucr.edu/index.php/main/eventlookup/?id=65

Edit 1/4/10: A few people have asked - we never ended up pursuing this project. Please do post in the comments if you are aware of some open source OMR software. In case you're about to head to Google for a look, I'll save you the time: open source OMR.

Scan This Book! - New York Times

2006-05-14T23:55:00.000-07:00

Scan This Book! - New York Times
Here's a great article talking about what is the likely future of print media (books, magazines) copyright law. The punch line comes at the end, when Kelly suggests that copyright owners owe the world a duty of searchability.

I agree that it seems reasonable to create a web-friendly Copyright 2.0, under which it is legal to scan and copy for search & fair-use retrieval purposes.

A copyright duration of 70 years is outrageous, and far outlasts the duration needed as an incentive for publication of creative works. Congress should change this as well, but the powers that be (e.g. insert-your-publisher-here) won't let that happen.

To quote Kelly, "Search opens up creations. It promotes the civic nature of publishing. Having searchable works is good for culture. It is so good, in fact, that we can now state a new covenant: Copyrights must be counterbalanced by copyduties. In exchange for public protection of a work's copies (what we call copyright), a creator has an obligation to allow that work to be searched. No search, no copyright."

Microsoft and Google Grapple for Supremacy - New York Times

2006-05-11T15:03:00.000-07:00

Microsoft and Google Grapple for Supremacy - New York Times
Interesting article. I will be working for the big G in Seattle. They've treated me very nicely thus far, including a popcorn tin and some gift cards. :)

Boston, Swimming, Job [Google!!], etc.

2006-02-26T22:15:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends -
During the past couple months, I've been enjoying being back in the Boston area and the US in general. It's good to see old friends and meet the new freshmen that will be taking over the reins from us seniors in only a few years :) I'm really encouraged by the number of strong Christians I see rising up in the Boston area. The people that go through this city will change the world, and I figure the world will be better off if they've at least had a chance to hear and make an educated decision on Christianity.

The swim season ended last weekend. I swam under our new coach Bill Smyth for about one month, and came in with about three weeks of my own training. Somehow, during that month in our new pool, I brought my times down to personal record levels in the 50, 100, and 200 free. In all three events (which I swam at conferences last weekend), I dropped time, breaking 1:50 in the 200 free (1: 49.22), breaking :50 in the 100 free (:49.92), and breaking 24s in the 50 free (23.14). It was a hugely encouraging weekend, and a great way to leave on a high note. I'm very grateful Bill let me swim with the team.

I interviewed frantically across the country for a couple weeks in late Jan/early February, eventually getting offers at Raytheon, Fidelity, Microsoft, and Google. I watched the super bowl from the Univ of Washington campus. We were disappointed with the calls during the game on that day, but I was very happy with the results of my interview the next day at Microsoft. After some waffling back and forth between Google and Microsoft, I found the best of both worlds and will be accepting a position in Google's Kirkland office, which is only 2.5 hours driving from home for me. I'll be working on such exciting projects as Google Earth, Google Talk, Google Pack, and more. [Google Pack, by the way, is a really easy way to get a new computer ready to roll.]

Granted, it will rain more and give me more overcast days, living in Washington state. However, I think the tradeoff of being much closer to home and still having a new city (Seattle to discover) will keep me more than busy and happy for the next couple years. Please pray for my decision as I consider a summer project in Central or East Asia before I begin, probably in early September.

As before, I welcome any updates you want to send my way.

Sincerely,
Brian Patton

Aesthetic Audacity

2006-01-13T11:48:00.000-08:00

Aesthetic Audacity
Visit my friend Derek's web page, advertising...himself :)

Catholic Church says Bible might have flaws

2005-12-07T09:41:00.000-08:00

Catholic Church no longer swears by truth of the Bible - Times Online

I'm going to have to disagree with them on this one, given that they presumably (and heretofore have) accept(ed) the passage saying "All scripture is God-breathed and is suitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness." from Timothy. Given that scripture is inspired by God, I can't believe it would have a flaw, nor can I believe that the "secular" parts of the Bible in Gen. 1-11 are legendary or false. A short while ago, the church would have realized that some critical analysis of such passages, as well as a critical look at evolution/creation/design will not reveal any particular scientifically provable deficiencies in scripture. On sheer probabilities, I find the Bible at least a little easier to believe.

Boston is 2nd most expensive place to rent

2005-12-06T02:07:00.000-08:00

Most Expensive Rental Markets In America 2005 - Forbes.com: "a"

Boston has made the top ten list... #2, actually, behind NYC...
Apparently 35% of people rent, and avg. "Class A" cost is around $24/sf. wow!

A quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping

2005-12-06T02:01:00.000-08:00

New Scientist Breaking News - Arguments dramatically slow wound healing

Apparently, if you argue, your wounds will heal slower. So pray for a good marriage...it'll be better for your immune system!

Christian facebook/friendsters

2005-12-03T14:50:00.000-08:00

I've come upon two Christian networking sites, essentially working to bring together a Christian social network. This is something I've been thinking about during the last week. I'd like to see it take off. They are:
www.5loaves.net
www.christianster.com

Just for kicks, a sudoku solver

2005-12-01T16:30:00.000-08:00

Well, this puzzle has really fascinated me. I love how quickly people have taken to it. Swept the entire globe since about last May. So I made a solver.
It's not entirely complete in all possible complexity (there is some need for set logic for the very few complex puzzles), but this can generally solve most sudokus.
For some examples, visit here: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,18209,00.html
Sudoku Jigsaw - click here: http://www.sudoku.org.uk/jigsaw.asp

For a more-complete logical solver, here: http://www.sudokusolver.co.uk/index.html

For the code:
grid.cpp
grid.h
main.cpp

Coming home soon!

2005-12-01T16:24:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends -

Seems like the semester has flown by, and yet the last couple weeks have been so slow. I have been applying for jobs and would ask you to forward on my resume to anyone you know in a Software / IT / Finance type of job. I'm sure that's one of the best ways I can find a great place to work.

My internship will be finished next Thursday. I have enjoyed the time and recently established more of a rapport with my boss than before (it still seems a bit cold & professional), and I've got mixed feelings on the consulting industry. Probably not somewhere I would want to start unless I can really use my technical degree. Finance, IT both sound interesting. And then there's computer vision... which would probably require some grad school.

I will be arriving back in Boston on the 15th around 5pm, and spending a night there before heading home (8 time zones from here) for a month off! I can't wait to see my family, as I've missed them since MAY. While in Boston, I hope to round up some friends for a party, including you, as long as you don't have a final the next morning (even if you do, if you study in advance).
I'm praying about doing a summer project before going to work. Pray that I'll have some clarity on that. Mostly, I could use your prayers for my job search, that I'll choose the right location, employer, etc.

I will go to a rugby game (London Wasps) on Sunday. I will present my research to my team, then go out for a British Christmas dinner on Monday. I will be seeing A Christmas Carol this coming Tuesday. It's nice to hear Christmas music again. Finally, on Saturday morning, I head to Germany for a few days... Can't wait to visit Imke and see a quaint German village... Then I'm back for a class, a final, and a trip back home!

Hope you've all had a great fall/winter. I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone.

God bless
-Brian <><

===========
Brian Patton
http://people.bu.edu/bjp/
http://people.bu.edu/reallife/ourstories.html

Looks like Google is going to the moon

2005-12-01T03:14:00.000-08:00

Our new goal is to "organize all the useful information in the universe and serve it to you on a lightly salted cracker."
http://www.google.com/jobs/lunar_job.html

CSS to print webpage different from rendering

2005-11-27T06:20:00.000-08:00

<link rel="stylesheet" 
media="print" 
type="text/css" 
href="http://img.thisismoney.co.uk/style/print.css" />

Using that line for a special print-only .css file, you can control how the page will print. Then, users don't have to click a "Print this page" link. Check it out...

Look at
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=404961&in_page_id=2
and then click file->print preview

ROI and the death of business

2005-11-24T03:06:00.000-08:00

I found this article insightful, given that all they teach us in B-school is about management by numbers (you can't really teach intution & genius, anyway): Google's cached copy

And then there were none

2005-11-20T06:53:00.000-08:00

^^ That's the name of the Agatha Christie novel-turned-play that I went to see last Friday night. Pretty intense and scary, but really a fun show.

It's been a good few weeks since you last heard from me. I've made good progress on the presentation I'll soon be giving to some investment management consultants on the state of the European investment management market at KPMG. Meanwhile, I've started looking for jobs, which has got me stressed to the max! I can't decide where I'd like to live, which company would be the best fit, what the right trade-off of intrinsic vs. extrinsic benefits is, and it's got me altogether flummoxed, to use a fun word. Nonetheless, I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing some of the companies that are out there in the marketplace, developing what they can, marketing it in completely different sectors, and generally having a great past couple years. It's a great time to get hired right now (apparently), especially for qualified CS majors. They say technical degrees are in high demand and that there aren't enough qualified people. The problem is, the qualifications presented by some companies are so complex that I'd be surprised to meet any perfect individual. There are plenty of smart people looking for work, if you'll give them a month of training time!

In case you're wondering, I am a computer science major, by the way. Business minor, loved working on a computer vision project and would be very interested in an AI/computer vision job. The problem is, I would probably be equally interested in an IT/development job with an investments firm, and those are two very distinct fields I'm thinking about. Pray for me, please.

I will be trying to go to 2 church services tonight, so that I can hear John Stott speak (at the second one) at All Souls. It will be an intense 3 hours of church/travel/church, whew!

I visited the Tower of London and Kensington Palace last weekend. Both were fun places, the tower with its devices of torture, the palace with its dresses and fancy state rooms. The Lord Mayor's show was last weekend... basically, a fancy-dressed guy rides a BEAUTIFUL gold-gilded carriage, behind a 2-mile-long parade. The parade was a kick, all kinds of Britons old and young, variously dressed and including creatively decorated cars, driving couches (thank you Intel), decorated buses, and marching bands. That night there was a dramatic fireworks show. Pretty enjoyable weekend, last weekend.

The prior weekend, I went to two fireworks shows for Guy Fawkes day. It's the closest the Brits get to a 4th of July, and it takes place on the 5th of November. Remember, remember the 5th of November. A group of (persecuted) Catholic rebels planted some dynamite in the basement of Parliament and Guy Fawkes was to light it. Unfortunately for him they found him out, tortured him (the rack) and then he was drawn and quartered, sent to the corners of the UK (like William Wallace). So they celebrate the day they caught him, but they name the day after the terrorist himself... interesting people, these. Did I mention they burn his effigy in huge bonfires all over the country every year?!

I'm working today and tonight on assembling a portfolio for my internship, so I must go. Hope you all are having a great November and enjoying the warmth and coldness of your respective locations. Oh, and congrats to my friend Olga from Central Asia, who just got engaged!
-Brian

--
===========
Brian Patton
http://people.bu.edu/bjp/
http://people.bu.edu/reallife/ourstories.html

The printer will become the new water-cooler

2005-11-17T03:02:00.000-08:00

My hypothesis is that the printer may be becoming the new water cooler about which important conversations are had and networking is done.

A few notes

2005-11-16T05:19:00.000-08:00

1) Sauerkraut might cure bird flu, in case you get it. Anyway, apparently cabbage is good for your immune system. Might have to do an overhaul of my eating habits :)
2) Went to a presentation on London/services marketing last night. Apparently London just passed NYC for international business transactions. The Rt Hon Lord Michael Heseltine of Thenford (Minister of Commerce & Industry under Margaret Thatcher) gave a presentation on what he sees as the future of marketing, which will increasingly strive to sell services and beat out India & China. He used four R's:

Reach
Responsiveness
Relationships
Renewal/Revision

Interesting descriptions accompany each, although I hesitate to include the renewal process in marketing, thinking it falls more into organizational culture/change/operations.

Thinking...

2005-11-14T16:02:00.000-08:00

Been thinking a lot recently, praying about some stuff:
1) What am I supposed to do? Go back to a major investments firm? Go very technical with some place like Google or MS? Go to BAE and design defence IT systems? (note the British spelling)
2) Where am I supposed to be? Boston? Central Asia summer project? Home?
3) What is baptism in the Spirit in the book of Acts (yeah, I know kind of random relative to the others, but relevant nonetheless)?
Pray for me on those.

Pictures posted

2005-11-06T16:34:00.000-08:00

Posted a handful of within-the-last-month pictures on http://bjppics.blogspot.com

--
===========
Brian Patton
http://people.bu.edu/bjp/
http://people.bu.edu/reallife/ourstories.html

Back in London and busy again

2005-11-04T16:21:00.000-08:00

Greetings from London!
Well, as you might have guessed from my incommunicativeness over the past couple weeks (is that even a word, incommunicativeness?) I have been busy!

Since returning to London, I have (a) started an internship with KPMG, an international business services company specializing in audit, tax, and advisory. I fit in to the UK member firm's financial services advisory/performance management block. It's been a fun couple weeks of learning my way around, which is how it always goes with a new job. Nice people. Admittedly, I felt a little lonely after a week and a half among British speakers. However, I have admitted to myself that I'm American to stay, and I feel much better about my American-ness now :) In fact, I even met another guy who started at KPMG US and is now working for the UK firm.

I got to go out for curry with my immediate (Investment Management) team last night. It was fun. We had a meeting where everyone summarized what they've been up to and what clients they're on/hope to secure. I met a couple partners (who apparently rake in the dough, around £ 200,000 min per year in salary + bonus/profits) and a lot of people whom I haven't even seen in the office (they've been putting in 130% client time). We had a meeting Monday night called "Cascades" as in, information cascading down the chain to the little guys on the bottom, which includes me. Apparently the division I'm in grew by some huge proportion and the company as a whole has done really well this last year. They set the bonus pool to £ 59 million this year, a big jump from last year. Of course, that doesn't compare much with the Goldman Sachs bonuses of up to 200k. Their traders went out that night to a ritzy bar and asked for the most expensive cocktail available - TEN OF THEM. Well, at 385 pounds a piece ($700ea), those added up, and the Crystale and other drinks they got brought a two-man bill up to £ 13,000. Ridiculous. Yeah. These people are absurd. Send a bit of that my way (at least pay me for working! ;-)

Those people would be described as POSH. The origin of the posh term is this: when British women used to go to India, they would faint with their huge dresses and corset if they were on the side of the boat that faced the sun. So when they ordered tixx, rich women would order P.O.S.H. tickets, meaning Port Out Starboard Home, which would put them on the left (North) on the Eastbound journey, and the North on the way home. Both ways in the shade. There's your etymology for the day.

I am thoroughly enjoying my current class, which meets Fridays only. The professor makes the class what it is (great!). He's very relaxed, brings in food every week, and is very well-read when it comes to thinking about international management. It's funny how much I could loathe an Organizational Behavior class under Prof. Zenger-Baker but love a nearly-OB class on international management, organizational structure, change, leadership, etc. under Prof. Lang. I guess that's a sign that the teacher has a large impact on student perceptions of the subject. I gave a presentation today, on a case study about Acer, Inc. the Taiwan-based computer maker. We have fun discussions about how outrageous prices are here in the UK, and how the professor always orders off ebay US, buys in Germany (his car!), or asks his sister-in-law to send goodies over from the US. He recently got an iPod which he loves. Did I mention we share a birthday, which happened to be the first day of class?! Yeah, he brought me a bottle of champagne (from Champagne, France) the following Friday. I don't suspect he anticipated it, but I brought him the chicken and bacon sandwich he had requested, so we did a little gift exchange a week late.

My birthday, by the way, was a kick. We went to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, a pub that dates back as early as the late 1500s. Our table was near an original copy of Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. It was a nice experience. I suppose Rome was a bit older, but this did the trick. I had a nice chunk of lamb and was given Phantom and Josh Groban in concert DVDs, as well as a Phantom mask just for kicks :)
I am, by the way, still a little in awe of Les Mis, in case you were wondering. Saw a crude play called On Tour. It was small & intimate (i.e. ~100 seats), but yeah just dirty.

My roommate got back from Croatia/Bosnia alright. All his limbs intact. Fortunately he had hired a translator/guide, 'cause he said he almost stepped on a mine, but the translator stopped him.

I'm going to a Man City v. Fulham football game tomorrow afternoon. Don't have any particular loyalties, but it should definitely be a good time.

I'm going through this course called Alpha, which is a course discussing the very fundamentals of Christianity in a pretty intellectual environment. It's kind of taking the world by storm, as in, around 10% of the UK population have been on Alpha, and it's definitely getting big in Boston/elsewhere in the US. I might have a hankering to lead a course next semester. We'll see how that pans out.

Hope this gives you some rough overview of what's going on with me. Send me food or chocolate or cards if you like :)
Love you all.
-Brian

Brian Patton
43 Harrington Gardens
London, England
SW7 4JU
UK

--
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Brian Patton
http://people.bu.edu/bjp/
http://people.bu.edu/reallife/ourstories.html

Colourful theatre and a trip around Europe

2005-10-14T16:20:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a fast couple weeks it has been. Please note that the spellings in the title are proper British spellings :) Two weeks ago today, I saw Les Miserables. It was absolutely incredible! They'll be in Boston in Feb/March, so if you'd like to go you can definitely have my company! The music is great, the dancing and stage/set are incredible, altogether an amazing show.

I'm writing you from Barcelona at the tail end of my week off in Europe. Traveling about with my friend Carolina, I have visited Venice, Florence, Naples, Rome, and Barcelona is our final stop. It's been a whirlwind adventure of seeing Europe. Venice was beautiful, with canals lacing the city left and right. We took a traghetto across the Canal Grande, which served as a nice 30-second gondola experience. I really enjoyed the city. With good gelato, walkable distances, and streets with no room for cars, what more could you ask for?!

In Florence, Marco was the manager of our hostel, a very friendly and helpful person. We had a nice dinner there, a two course meal with salad for dessert (interesting thought, the salad after the meal :) We visited some nice gardens, saw a great panoramic view of the city, and enjoyed it quickly, after which we headed to Rome.

We found it quite a hard time getting into our hostel in Rome. Ended up spending the night in a nearby B&B for a little over 1.5 times the price :( Luckily we got into the hostel for the next night. From Rome, we took a train to Naples where we visited a small town that had an ancient Flavian Amphitheatre. Unfortunately, all the archeological sites in that town were closed on Tuesdays ... grrr. Anyway, at least it provided a wonderful panoramic view of the Terranian Sea/coastline. Naples had some great seafood, then we were rushing to make the train back before our 24-hour ticket expired, so we got to see some old buildings down the main drag of the city very quickly!

Rome, of course, was amazing. We visited the Colosseum first thing in the morning, and took a tour that was definitely worth it. It started to rain, but then let up for a while as we explored the Palatine hill area and the Roman Forum. The history there dates back as far as 430-something BC. AMAZING. It rained again as we made our way to the Vatican, where we arrived (most unfortunately) as the Sistine Chapel closed ... grr again. It closes very early at 4.15/4.30. Anyway, we got to see St. Peter's basilica, where they purport to have his ashes in a little box beneath the floor...you can look in and see a sign that says this is St. Peter, but I'm amazed if they really know it's him. The church is a little bit gaudy in that it has inscriptions on the floor saying how large several other large cathedrals/basilicas are, and making the clear point that this is the biggest.

We cruised around Barcelona a little bit in the rain yesterday, but that made it kind of a bummer afternoon. I'm praying for sunshine for today or Saturday morning so that I can hit the beach once before getting back to work. I'm looking forward to jumping into a pool starting Monday and starting to get in shape for the end of the season upon my return to BU. I'm looking forward to seeing the famous Gaudi cathedral, the zoo, and some other Barcelona attractions, but the sunshine is definitely what I want to experience, so that our "Sea Point Hostel" will be worth the walk (it's right on the beach, a ways from the city!)

Please pray for a job for my mom, a sunny day for Barcelona, strong friendships in London, and a good internship experience.

Let me know your mailing address if you desperately desire a postcard from Rome or London!

Stay strong and do keep writing...I enjoy reading your emails :)

-Brian
--
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Brian Patton
http://people.bu.edu/bjp/
http://people.bu.edu/reallife/ourstories.html

London, Scotland, etc.

2005-09-21T16:23:00.000-07:00

Hi all :)

I've been enjoying myself here in the UK, getting to know London, the Tube, the TV stations, Scotland, the national rail system, and loving the 1.84 exchange rate (not really!). I'm taking a class in European capital markets, which has been very interesting. I finished applying for BU's nomination for the Rhodes and Marshall scholarships for two years of further study (in economics) here in the UK at Oxford, LSE, or St. Andrew's. I had a telephone interview with such figures as Sheldon Glashow (Nobel in Physics) and Jon Westling (former BU president) earlier today. Pray that I have made a great impression on the selection committee so that I can progress further in this.

In the past couple weeks, I've found a church I'd like to attend regularly and met a weekly small group not far from where I live. I went to see a play with them last Thursday night (Pericles, Prince of Tyre) at Shakespeare's recently-rebuilt Globe Theatre. Tonight I will watch Playing With Fire at a venue closer to the West End (London's theatre district). The show at the Globe, by the way, was really impressive. I was a groundling and got slowly soaked by a very light drizzle, but their use of the theatre was incredible. We went to The Anchor, a pub, afterwards and relaxed for a few minutes in the warm place that Shakespeare's men used to use as a changing room (a pub since the middle ages!).

This past weekend, my flatmates and I traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland. We stayed at a hostel there that wasn't incredible, but it was a bed. We climbed Arthur's Seat, a mini-mountain on the first evening and barely missed a huge rainstorm, approaching from all sides, then scattering into a beautiful, 180-degree rainbow (2 of them, actually). The next day we visited the Museum of Scotland, then caught a train out to Stirling, where William Wallace won an important battle in the 1300s (cue Braveheart music). We visited Stirling castle; not very impressive relative to Windsor and Buckingham, but a fun time nonetheless. That afternoon, we walked briefly around Stirling, visited the oldest townhouse in the area (quite melodramatic!), then caught a local bus to a couple cities away to visit Alva. Even Edinburghers don't know exactly where Alva is, but we found out that there was a local festival, the Alva Glen Illuminations, going on and we just had to see that :) Actually, we thought we might hike there; the Illuminations were an afterthought. We got in there too late to hike, but we did get to see the end of the Second Duck Race (kids racing rubber duckies down a creek), enjoy dinner at a local pub/B&B with a lovely Scottish lass as our waitress, then head back out the the Glen for the real Illuminations events. A band of local pipers (including a little 8-or-10-year old) played some great tunes, I bought some assorted homemade cakes in a baggie (these were yummy), and then we walked through the glen to see much of the vegetation lit by candles (historical) and halogen lights (not too historical). Got some fun pictures of a guy juggling fire; he breathed it too. Listened to a local band play some older and recent hits. We got a bus back to Stirling, where we walked around the town for a little while (I got some McDonald's for the first time since I've been here). Not much of a night life at all there; actually pretty dead at night :) We caught our train back to Edinburgh and got to sleep shortly thereafter. The next morning, Sunday, I took off on my own to see a bit more of the city; I bought a Claymore, the sword William Wallace used, and am enjoying swinging it around and seeing how shiny it is :) Don't worry, it didn't cost a ridiculous amount, although I did think it unusual that I would buy such a thing, wise a spender as I am.

I'm enjoying classes; working hard on occasion, doing reading and writeups. Most of the time, enjoying the city. Will probably end up working with an accounting firm or an investments firm. Hope all is going well back in the states. Let me know if you have any London friends I should meet.

-Brian

--
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Brian Patton
http://people.bu.edu/bjp/
http://people.bu.edu/reallife/ourstories.html

London

2005-09-04T11:12:00.000-07:00

I am in London for the semester. Send me an email if you care to find out how it's hanging.
Call if you really want to hear my voice (probably better to pre-arrange this; I'm 5 hours ahead of the East coast): 011 44 207 590 7005

Mario Music

2005-06-19T21:26:00.000-07:00

This is amusing:
http://homepage.mac.com/mrspleen/iMovieTheater6.html

Carlton St.

2005-05-28T11:57:00.000-07:00

I'm all moved in now, Dave's a good roommate, we've visited our roof (accessible via fire escape), and I've bought food so I can eat this summer. I posted my mailing address in my last post, please send me a letter or something.
I've now worked for a week. Really fun people to work with. I'm learning stuff that BU computer science just doesn't teach, but which is really important to actually getting an information-systems position out of school. I work downtown in the financial district, which is a new experience. People are more dressed-up (myself included) and faster-paced than home, or even back at BU.
Watched Star Wars 3 last night with Derek. Great movie, tied up all the loose ends for me; Derek and I will be watching Star Wars 4 tonight, to see what other loose ends got tied up for us :) It's pleasant to be here, but feels a little more lonely and tiring than last summer, perhaps because more traveling is involved in getting to work. The weather has been bummer until today, also. That's probably a big part of the whole tired-out thing. Today is beautiful and sunny, was cloudless all morning. I got some fruits & veggies at Haymarket and all is well.
Hope your Saturday is beautiful as well.

Phantom! Mailing address

2005-05-13T17:20:00.000-07:00

I'll be living with David Hill this summer, at the following address:
Brian Patton
45 Carlton St. #8
Brookline, MA 02446

I saw Phantom of the Opera last night with Ellie, Derek, and Rob (see pics). It was as incredible as I had ever imagined it could be! And then some. What a show; I love the music, and having scenes to put with that music now makes it even better than ever.

Some of my favorite lines, sung by Raoul as he proposes:
"Then say you'll cherish me: one love, one lifetime.
Let me lead you from your solitude.
Say you'll need me with you, here beside you.
Anywhere you go, let me go too.
Christine, that's all I ask of you.

...Love me, that's all I ask of you."

Finals halfway done

2005-05-10T09:22:00.000-07:00

Well, I'll be in town for the summer, which is pretty exciting. I'm excited for the guys who will be in town (girls too, I guess :) because I think we'll be able to learn a lot from each other in a more relaxed environment that summer brings. I'm so excited for my job. It was completely unanticipated, but God provides in mysterious ways.
I'm going to miss a bunch of Boston people after this week :( so I have to be saying my goodbyes this week. Also, SMG just informed me that I can't take the Management & Finance core class while I'm in London since I haven't taken SM323 (Core). Maybe I can get signed into the class once I get to London, 'cause I would really like to take it "European Institutions & Enterprises"... That's all for now. Time to get coffee with a friend soon.

Finals Week!

2005-05-01T13:50:00.000-07:00

Ah, the end approaches. This year, I'm kind of wishing the end didn't come upon me so soon, as I'm thinking I'll miss Boston a lot during the fall :( I'll be studying abroad in London, which should be a really fun experience. But I'm bummed to miss all that's going to be happening with BU Real Life and all my junior friends that are returning to campus.
Alas, I guess this is how college goes. At least Carolina and Kathleen and others will be in London, when I need a good American accent :) I will miss this year's seniors. Of the past three years, (obviously) these are the seniors that I've gotten to know the best. I'm excited for the summer. I have a job at Fidelity in Investment Operations Systems, and look forward to hanging out with all my Boston friends and making new ones over the summer. I pray that it will be a powerful time of growth and maturing. I praise God for the job, and for the friends in Central Asia that I will be able to bless because of it. I pray for huge change on my campus, that people might resist the temptation of academic ignorance. That people might think critically about what they view as success and what they will build their lives around. I will get to live with David Hill this summer, which is an exciting opportunity. Certainly, big things will be happening in Boston during summer-fall 2005!
May your summer be blessed as well.

New pics blog

2005-04-13T21:37:00.000-07:00

Click the link in the title or here

See my BlogMap :)

2005-04-10T20:27:00.000-07:00

Be sure to click the number (currently 57) - not the map.

UPN!!

2005-04-10T19:22:00.000-07:00

United Praise Night was last night! It was amazing. Seeing the whole body together as one is an amazing experience, and meeting believers from all over campus rocks my world. Praise God that he has set us apart to be at work for him.

Worked on CS all afternoon, like last Sunday. At least this assignment seemed a bit more manageable, or perhaps I had a better attitude about it :) Continuing work on bronchial tree detection/modeling in 3d, which is pretty fascinating. I'm looking into course 6.170 on MIT's openCourseWare so that I'll better understand the buzz words thrown around in SW engineering. Also trying to pick up Java and Perl on the side of all my classes :-\ whew!

Sweet, 3.0% :)

2005-04-05T22:57:00.000-07:00

Sweet, my savings rate went up again. If you're not in on the fun yet, now's a better time than ever to dump that old savings acct. and get an ING Direct account. It's even FDIC insured up to $100K (do you have that much?). Drop me a line and I'll refer you (you get 25, I get 10 bucks). Or get it yourself at ingdirect.com

Gmail accounts are (theoretically) infinite (big grin)

2005-04-05T08:28:00.000-07:00

Gmail has one-upped the world of web-based email accounts once again. They've now given me 2061MB of online mail storage space (more than I can imagine using), and this is increasing at a rate of about 1KB per minute (visit www.gmail.com). If you want a gmail account (Trust me, you do! It even works w/ any POP3 email client like Outlook Express), you might be able to simply register at their site, or you might still need an invite (of which I have fifty to give away). Let me know if you're interested.

CS is taking over my life

2005-04-05T08:22:00.000-07:00

I've been putting off quite a bit of CS homework over the past couple weeks, and, admittedly, it's wearing on me. Our last assignment for CS332 was pretty brutal (I spent all Sunday afternoon working on it :^( ). We have (outstanding) a pretty tough assignment for my CS410 class, in which I'll have to do something with multiple processes, multiple threads, matrix multiplication, and a shell prompt (all in one assignment). The thing I'm currently most interested in getting done is our CS585 project, but the CS585 homework of computing disparities between stereo images must have my attention for the current week. That could be painful, we'll see starting in a few minutes.

I'm excited about United Praise Night, which is coming up this Saturday night. It was big my freshman year, and I'm hoping it will be just as huge now. Please pray for it if you read this posting. Have a great week!

Life, 2.80%

2005-03-31T13:01:00.000-08:00

Applying for a bunch of stuff in the next few months...
Marshall & Rhodes Scholarships (!)
Summer Jobs (still looking?!)
CAS Merit Scholarship

These are the priorities. Now, let them be accomplished!
In other news, I posted some pics on Snapfish from America Easts 2005... let me know if you'd like to peruse them.
Our new pool is still amazing :)
My savings rate just went up to 2.8%... not a bad return for a risk-free investment.
Let me know if you want into ING Direct (you get $25, I get $10)

New Pool!

2005-03-24T07:45:00.000-08:00

Well, at long last I finally got to swim in the new pool yesterday, and what a beautiful experience that was! The natural lighting, quality lane-lines, 7-foot depth, and wide lanes will all combine to make our pool certainly the best in the conference, one of the best in Boston/Cambridge, and probably the third- or fourth-nicest pool I've seen. It will be an exciting season!
After swimming a bit, I gave myself a quick tour of the rest of the facility. This is a great place, with basketball, squash courts, an elevated track, tons of workout machines, and pretty much every amenity you could dream of. Perhaps the saddest part is the lazy river, which comes at the expense of a 50m pool (we get like 42m instead), and isn't intensely interesting in and of itself. Hopefully, someone will enjoy the 30yd-long river quite a bit :-\ Altogether, a beautiful BU construction, and it looks to be quality that will last.
That's all for today.

Check your credit (finally) for free

2005-03-13T12:17:00.000-08:00

(from http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/11/freecredrpt.htm)
November 23, 2004

Credit Bureaus Announce How Consumers Can Access Free Credit Reports

The three nationwide consumer reporting companies – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion – today announced the Web address, toll-free telephone number, and postal address consumers can use to request a free annual credit report. Beginning December 1, 2004, consumers in 13 Western states will be able to begin making requests by visiting www.annualcreditreport.com, calling 877-322-8228, or mailing a standardized form to Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. The 13 eligible states are Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

(from http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/freereports.htm)
Consumers in the Western states — Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming — can order their free reports beginning December 1, 2004.

Consumers in the Midwestern states — Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin — can order their free reports beginning March 1, 2005.

Consumers in the Southern states — Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas — can order their free reports beginning June 1, 2005.

Consumers in the Eastern states — Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia — the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and all U.S. territories can order their free reports beginning September 1, 2005.

Home

2005-03-06T21:24:00.000-08:00

I'm home for Spring Break... Good to see the family... Will be working on an exciting project this semester involving segmenting the bronchial tree from CT scans of the lungs. Just got it to compile under VS.NET, which is an upgrade from VC++6. Enjoy your spring break :)

Rates went up!

2005-03-01T19:18:00.000-08:00

Savings rate just went up a notch...Great News!

On February 25th, we increased the variable annual percentage yield on your Orange Savings Account to 2.60%!

That's my ING bank :)
Let me know if you want in on the nice interest. You get a free 20 or 25 bucks just because a member refers you!

Is MS going down the right track?

2005-02-23T11:49:00.000-08:00

Microsoft (MSN/Hotmail) just sent me this email:
Recently, Hotmail® announced that in order to improve customer experience and reduce spam and junk e-mail abuse on MSN® services, Hotmail will no longer allow new e-mail accounts to be accessed via Microsoft® Office Outlook® and Outlook Express.

We are pleased to inform you that because you are an existing and valued customer, at this time your current Hotmail and MSN account(s) are exempt from this restriction and you will be able to continue enjoying access to those accounts from Outlook or Outlook Express. However, any new Hotmail or MSN accounts you create will not be accessible via Outlook or Outlook Express.
(red, bold text mine)

Now, I have no intent of paying for an email account, and if Microsoft decides that they'd like to charge me and make me stop using Outlook Express one of these days down the road, two things are true:
1) I won't do it - I'll use only my GMail account, which allows me to access the account using POP anyway.
2) MS becomes truly evil in my mind. I will admit to some level of dependency on my Hotmail account. I use it for almost any purposes except personal/professional ones. Anyone who might spam me, Hotmail. Anyone who needs my email for their frequent flier club, Hotmail. To make consumers dependent on your service and then, several years later, to start charging, is both a brilliant and completely unethical idea. I love it and hate it!
More on this subject if that highlighted red text above ever goes out of effect!

Also, if you want a GMail account (www.gmail.com), I have 50 referrals to give away now, so just drop me a line!

AMAZING Times!

2005-02-19T13:04:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm almost done with my events (I swim in the 800 free relay tonight), and both have been amazing. I swam the 500 in 5:10.72, which breaks way past my previous personal record of 5:13 or so. Similarly, in the 200 free this morning, I smashed past my previous 1:51.82 to drop down to 1:51.52. Hopefully a relay start will give me an incredible split tonight. Thank God for an amazing end to my season despite my lack of fitness at the beginning of this semester!

Conferences are here!

2005-02-16T19:42:00.000-08:00

So... Since I'll be completely shaving my head tomorrow night, I let Carolina have a little fun with it tonight. She went pretty much all out, doing a flower on the back, and stripes on the side :)
...Enjoy the pic :)

Central Asia girls

2005-02-15T08:24:00.000-08:00

Just IM'ed with the girls from central asia! It makes me miss being there a little bit more than I did just 10 minutes ago :( Praise GOD for what he's doing over there with the Student Conference, where a crazy number (143!) of students had the opportunity to hear the gospel... How awesome to hear it!
I learned that the LXG title of the CD I bought means League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, a conference at which the band played last year. The band's name is "Special Opinion". It's so funny because I had just put on their CD when the girls started chatting with me. I'm glad to hear that everyone's healthy and happy, and we are missed as much as we miss them :)
...Maybe I can go back sometime :)

I've sold out to free stuff : )

2005-02-07T17:36:00.000-08:00

Haha... So, I'm making such quick progress toward my free iPod Shuffle that I decided to sell out and sign up for the free desktop PC as well, just in case you're not a Mac mini fan. We'll see if I actually make much progress on the PC - you have to get 10 referrals, same as on the Mac... only three for the iPod Shuffle.

Irony

2005-02-06T10:52:00.000-08:00

It's funny that, in my last writing, I was talking about patching Windows using a ISO-to-CD program, when I'm now running in Linux (which I burned with that program). BU Linux 4 (Bossanova) is based on Fedora Core 2 Linux, available from RedHat. Of course, it's not Fedora Core 3, which I did think looked very pretty. But this will do :) Anyway, I've been slaving away at figuring out how to make my own static library that plays with BFD (binary file descriptors) on an x86 machine (mine) for CS410. It's been a journey. Also working on getting something like the Mac "dock" going, but that's been a pain to try to install. We'll see. Have a good week :)

Patching up Windows

2005-02-04T22:25:00.000-08:00

I've got to give props to Alex Feinman, who wrote this utility, which allows you to capture and burn ISO images from/to CD-R/RW's. Weird that Windows would have such a shortcoming, huh? It's no shortcoming - Windows uses image files itself - MS just didn't want us to have access, I guess! The program runs like any Windows wizard (a "Power Toy"), and is accessible by right-clicking ISO files and CD-Drives... Enjoy.

School

2005-01-31T19:36:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm back in the swing of things back here at school. I've enjoyed reading up as to what exactly can be done with a free Mac Mini, including this cool synthesizer setup... As for the iPod Shuffle, well, you only have to get three referrals, so even if you don't like it... it's not like it set you back.
I have a digital camera coming :), to replace the one I lost :( in Central Asia... Can't wait to get it.
I've set my family up to get VOIP (Voice over IP). If you want it, email me and let me "refer" you to their service ($19.95 a month for unlimited USA calling) and we'll both get a $25 bill credit!
As far as other stuff goes, I only have one big concern, and it's something you should be informed about... Phishing. Apparently the latest scam, you should read up and make sure you're not going to be a victim. The problem is, I'm now worried as to whether anything coming from my bank is a legit email. Even the phone is suspect now!
I, of course, was already a FireFox fan, not only for the tabbed browsing, but also because you can see what address you're REALLY at in the address bar, a coverup to which IE and FireFox, Safari, Opera, etc. are apparently vulnerable. Anyway, you can still play it safer with FireFox. Take any "threats" from your bank, eBay, Hotmail, or any other company you respect, with a grain of salt - are they really going to suspend your account? Doubtful! ... and forward that message (as attachment) to reportphishing@antiphishing.org or to whatever company's getting imitated. And always remember to look for the little SECURE logo ON YOUR BROWSER, not the webpage!
That's all for now.

Other (non-IE) browsers gain ground (on my site)

2005-01-30T22:04:00.000-08:00

I have a little picture on the bottom of my home page that keeps some simple stats on who visits the site, what continent they come from, and what browser they're using. About a year ago, Microsoft's IE browser held almost a 100% footing. Now, non-Microsoft browsers have a 6.6% hold, which is partly a result of my switching to FireFox, the next generation (open-source, public license) browser. This browser gives you tabbed browsing, security, extensions, themes, and standards compatibility that Microsoft hasn't matched. There's something about everybody contributing to it that seems to work better than a few engineers. With 21 million downloads yesterday, and counting, FireFox seems to be spreading.

Life & Death

2005-01-29T18:40:00.000-08:00

Well, I headed out on another whirlwind adventure, a 1-1/2 day trip to home and back from Wednesday evening through early Saturday morning. My grandpa passed away this past Sunday, so I flew out for the viewing, funeral, and to see the family. It was a stressful situation, planning travel two days in advance and notifying teachers, trying to register for classes at the last minute, returning books, and then actually flying in all hours of the night (both ways). Once there, it was nice to not be able to go to class, which let me relax a bit and sleep in.
However, I found out this morning that regardless of sleep, in-shape-ness depends on not being a month out of shape. After a month off for traveling over Christmas Break, no sleep on the red-eye flight from Portland to Boston, and the foolish decision to take a 2-mile treadmill jog w/o shoes on (!?, giving me blisters), I had a very poor meet. Anyway, all in a days' work.
The new Agannis Arena at BU is BeaUtiful; I went to a winning (3-2) hockey game vs. Providence tonight. It was hot. Quite the place. I hope to hit up Stars on Ice later this year.

Smart Money (2)

2005-01-26T11:39:00.000-08:00

I mentioned here the ING account that I have, which earns 2.35% a year currently, but that brough up an add in the Google ads for a 3%-earning account, here with Emigrant Direct, which seems to be based out of NY. Now, you can't get $25 just for joining with them, as far as I know, but maybe someone will let me know if they have the same refer-a-friend program.

$5 off a textbook

2005-01-26T11:28:00.000-08:00

Get $5 off a textbook on eBay's www.half.com
Use coupon code TEXT5 at checkout.
Maybe you'll buy a book from me :)

CraigsList

2005-01-26T05:28:00.000-08:00

Another one of those great sites on the internet:
www.craigslist.com
CraistList has local classifieds, and everything's free except for job classifieds in LA and NYC, which apparently funds the entire operation. Get a bike, camera, or most anything on the CraigsList for your city.

The people of the Central Asia trip... I enjoyed these!

2005-01-25T12:40:00.000-08:00

kim moreland...you brought hope
eric..you brought ambition
liz...you brought buoyancy
caroline...you brought comfort
brian myhre...you brought love
dave...you brought faith
brian patton...you brought zeal
crissy...you brought novelty
abbie...you brought strength
chris...you brought resilience
alicia...you brought tenacity
jessi...you brought poise
heather...you brought honesty
kim adams...you brought conviction
angelin...you brought encouragement
tiffany...you brought dedication

(thank you melanie...you brought joy and smiles :)

Smart Money

2005-01-24T14:55:00.000-08:00

So I guess I may as well put up any great ideas I have...
I keep my savings in ING Direct, where I earn 2.35% interest instead of the measly 1/16 percent or whatever my other bank would give me (and then charge fees on top of that).

If you're interested, this bank does all its operations online, using Automated ClearingHouse (ACH) transactions from your typical checking account (any checking will work). Drop me an email asking how you can get an automatic $25 for signing up for a new account, after you check out their site.

Free Mac Toys

2005-01-24T10:32:00.000-08:00

Alright, so I've never really been a big fan of Mac, in large part because they strike me as too expensive. However, if their products are finally cheap enough to be offered on these free offer things, I'm game to have a look. Here's what I've come up with:

Free Mac Mini - a little mac, about the size of the optical drive it comes equipped with
- That's 6.5" x 6.5" x 2" tall, if you're curious - this is a slick tech toy.
Free iPod Shuffle - a little iPod the size of a USB flash disk
- This weighs less than an ounce and hangs on a lanyard - another cool idea by Mac - seems Microsoft is having trouble copying them on the hardware stuff

How cool would it be if I actually got one of these things? I'd be a switcher :-/ :-)

Integrated

2005-01-23T21:19:00.000-08:00

Nice, this little toy is neatly integrated into the webpage now. Enjoy watching my life unfold online (yeah right, I'm probably going to update this somewhat rarely).

First post

2005-01-23T20:54:00.000-08:00

This is a test, first post on the blog.... bla bla blog I can't believe I signed up for this :)