Oh Spelling Bee…

I got to watch a part of the Scripps National Spelling Bee this evening, and it was so worth it.  First of all, I’m a huge nerd, so it was really awesome to get to play along (though without DVR, I wouldn’t have been able to play along as I would have wanted) and it was great to see the amazing talents of those kids.  Secondly, there were so many hilarious moments.

The first thing that comes to mind was the word “thymele” — Vinny pointed out that thymele is pronounced the same as “simile” would be pronounced by someone with a lisp.  So I could just picture the Youtube clip now: someone edits Dr. Bailey’s words to be those pronouncing and defining the word simile; the judges feel bad about the contest’s lisp, so they just pretend she was saying it correctly and let her go; she spells out the lisp with the “t-h”; and then instant Youtube fame.

Second up was the word “prosopopoeia” — this was the second to last word in the competition (the word which the runner-up missed).  When the word was said, the commentator could be heard muttering “Oh dear god.”  It was hilarious.  But then the kid missed it by leaving out the i.  I don’t know how or why he forgot the i.  It’s exactly like onomatopoeia, which I would imagine is a staple of any competitor’s study routine…

The last word that I remember being a funny one was “opificer” — the back-and-forth went by normally from contestant to Dr. Bailey, but when the girl went to spell it, she misspelled it (started it with an e instead of the o), and then butchered the ending pronunciation (she swapped a couple of the last letters to make it “opicifer” and gave Vinny and I a good chuckle).

Again, I am not trying to be mean to these kids or anything of the sort – these are amazing talents that they have to make it that far in the National Spelling Bee, and I know that I wouldn’t have stood a chance (I doubt I would now, even — just read more of my blog for proof of my terrible speeling).  It was fun to watch them spell words that I would never dream of spelling correctly, and I tip my non-existent hat to all of them.

Edit: Looking back at the Round-by-Round Results, the only kids I pointed out were the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd place finishers.  So I guess I only got to see about 15 words spelled – I’m really wondering what all I missed out on!

I Thoroughly Enjoy Lost

I know I’ve said this many times before, but I don’t think there is any way I can fully stress just how much I enjoy Lost. Tonight was the season finale of the fourth season, and it was quite an amazing episode. The two hours of awesomeness made it like a movie — a really really good movie! But now, I have no idea what I’m going to do with myself until season five starts in January. I’m not sure how I’m going to make it.

Maybe I’ll just go get addicted to some other show which has already ended. Doogie Howser was a great series for me in that sense, because I knew that there was no waiting game involved…

Also, I was trying to figure out a spoiler tag in case I wanted to say something about this episode of Lost, but it turns out the spoiler tag in forums is not actually HTML… So instead, I used my newly developed CSS skills to make my own spoiler tag. So highlight the grey box below to find a spoiler (unless you haven’t watched the season 4 finale of Lost yet – in which case – DON’T READ THE SPOILER! Go watch Lost!!!):

Spoiler! Come on Mare (or anyone else who cheated) – you didn’t REALLY want to ruin the finale, did you?!!?

Edit: Also, in case anyone missed the Alternative Endings on Good Morning America, they weren’t worth watching. It was less than one minute of the 2+ hour show, and that one minute included showing the ending they used. The other two endings were: Sawyer in the coffin, and Desmond in the coffin. So yeah, I think the ending that was shown was the one that made the most sense.. but I’m kind of wondering why one of the endings wasn’t Frank in the coffin! Oh well – we’ll just have to wait until next season to see what happens next! :-\

eLion is Really Nerdy

In case you are not  Penn Stater, eLion is the Pennsylvania State University’s electronic paperwork system.  Everything from scheduling to grades to loan information is all managed through eLion.  So in order to be a Penn State student, you must use eLion (at the very minimum) once a semester (in order to register for classes).

That being said, of the tens of thousands of people who have used eLion, I really would like to know how many have noticed the binary in the header of every page.  I hadn’t noticed it until I was obsessively checking my grades a couple weeks ago.  And once I did notice it, I instantly realized that it was a binary-encoding of ASCII characters.  And once I noticed this, I didn’t even have to use one of those converters to figure out what it said.  The fact that it was 5 characters long gave me the initial gut feeling that it said “eLion” and then all I did was compare the last two characters (01101111 and 01101110) noticing that the first character is one value greater than the second.   Since “o” comes right after “n” that was almost verification enough.  I checked the second character (“l”) to these, and the fact that it was 2 less than the last character, I was convinced.

Bonus points if you can figure out another word that would have fit that pattern to disprove my verification!

I Love Computer Programming

That’s all there is to it.  Computer programming is my true love.  I know that that makes me a huge nerd, but I am perfectly okay with that.  On Saturday night, after the hideous Penguins game, I hunted down a beginner’s guide on CSS and how to use it.  I worked through that and the same site’s intermediate and advanced tutorials until 4:30 in the morning and felt enlightened.

Now, CSS is something that I’m familiar with – (pretty much) every website I go to has its own CSS describing the look of the content: this blog has a CSS (which I imported and then modified a few characteristics), the Pass System (for THON) has a CSS, and the Math Club website that I maintained had a CSS.  Basically all I knew about CSS was that you define the characteristics of different objects (tags in HTML, selectors in CSS) and that way you don’t have to use different font tags all over the place and whatnot.  I had also heard rumors about how CSS should be used to design the layout of a page (instead of nesting tables inside of tables inside of tables).  But I didn’t know how to create a CSS from the ground up, and I sure as hell didn’t know how to do the page layout.So at 4:30AM, I finished up the tutorials and now I know how to design a CSS (I feel like Keanu Reeves in the Matrix – “I know CSS.”).

The big project on my plate right now is the development of Pass 2.0OOOOhYeeeeah (the initial Pass System was coded in ASP, and no one at Penn State knows ASP, and I don’t really enjoy ASP, so we’re recoding it in PHP – also in order to universalize the THON Technology Committee).  So I’m recreating the CSS (which is currently pretty much used only to modify the font for error messages) for the new Pass System, and it’s rocking thus far.

The only thing I love more than programming computers is learning a new programming language.  So learning CSS on Saturday night put me in seventh heaven.  :-)

Mario Kart Wii

Hoooly cow.  This game is absolutely amazing.  Mario Kart 64 was always by far my favorite N64 game (Jeopardy! was a close second).  I remember any time I’d go over to somebody’s house who had an N64, they’d all want to play Golden Eye or whatever other Bond game was awesome at the time, but the only thing I wanted to play was Mario Kart.  So when I heard about Mario Kart Wii coming out, I got really excited.  I bought it during finals week (after my 3 difficult finals, intelligently), and have been in love ever since.With 16 courses to begin with and 16 courses to unlock (several of these total 32 courses are from previous versions of the game and are rather nostalgic), there is quite a bit to do.  There are (at least) 4 modes – 50cc (for karts), 100cc (for motorcycles), 150cc (for karts and bikes), and mirror-mode (with all the courses flipped across the y-axis);  I have (kind of pathetically…) finished each of the 8 cups for each of the first 3 modes in first place.  (And Mirror-mode should be done in the next couple days.)

There are also tons of characters, ranging in size from Baby Mario and Baby Peach up to Bowser and Rosalina (from the new Mario Galaxy – which, by the way, is a whole ton of fun, but I haven’t gotten a chance to get fully addicted to because school was hectic and then this game took over – sorry Michael!  I’ll get back to it really soon!).  I haven’t yet unlocked all of the characters (there are spots for 19 currently, including your Mii (though I know there are 25… I’m going to discuss that and other aspects of the game in greater detail later this week)), but apparently the coolest new one (according to my brother-in-law, Wade) is Dry Bowser – I’m pretty excited to see this new guy.In addition to the 32 tracks which you can race in at least 6 different ways, and the battle modes (balloon battle which we all know and love and coin runners (where you collect as many coins as you can and protect them by not getting hit with a  weapon)), there is great online play.  You can race or battle with up to 11 other people from around the world and there is absolutely zero lag.  It’s a whole ton of fun, and the  ranking system (starting at 5000 and going up or down depending on a win or loss (I don’t understand the math..)) makes it so that you can always become better and better.

So that’s my opinion of the awesome Wii version of the always fun Mario Kart series.  It’s absolutely worth the $50 price tag (and you get a steering wheel with that, which I’m not a major fan of – the Wiimote + nun chuck combo makes it like Mario Kart 64 which I’m used to) and so if you have a Wii, I strongly suggest you get this game.  And when you do – let me know what your friend code is!  Mine is 4339-3348-9152!

Ooooh Penguins…

The Penguins game last night was a rather terrible one.  We’ve been on our A-game so far this playoff season, only losing 2 games in the 3 previous series (lost one to the Rangers, one to the Flyers, and none to the Senators).  But in game one against the Red Wings, we just looked disgusting.  The team didn’t appear to be coming together like they have for the past month, and because of this, there were nowhere near as many goal-scoring opportunities as there have been in games past.  I’m thinking that the fact that we hadn’t played a game in 6 days was one of the main things that threw us off (though, Detroit hadn’t played in 5…), and if that is the case, things should go smoother in game 2 tomorrow.  Hopefully the Pens went back after the game and watched the tapes, not only taking notes on what Detroit was doing successfully, but also where we were messing up and what we can do to fix it.

I’ve always been a Penguins fan and they have been quite an entertaining team to watch this year.  The playoffs have been especially awesome to watch, but if we don’t make some drastic changes before tomorrow night, game 2 is going to be just as little fun as the first one.

The Worst Movie Ever

Strange Wilderness is the worst movie ever. I didn’t think it looked very good from the previews I saw, but when Julie told me that it was made by the same people who made Grandmas Boy, I figured the previews must have been wrong. So we watched it and it was the worst movie I have ever seen.  A really funny joke to play on someone would be to tell them how great it is, and have them watch it… cruel and unusual punishment is always the best.

But seeing it got me to thinking — how bad is it compared to other crappy movies?  I went to the IMDB’s Bottom 100, and was shocked to see that Strange Wilderness (5.2/10) isn’t anywhere near the best of the worst movies (The Bat People – 2.4/10).  And upon going through the list, I saw that You Got Served was on there (at a 2.3/10).  I actually kind of did enjoy You Got Served as a whole.  Not for the acting, certainly not for the plot, but there was a sweet dance competition which made (at least) parts of the movie enjoyable!  There was no saving grace for Strange Wilderness like the dancing in You Got Served, so I have come to the conclusion that there is no justice in this world.

Changing it up

All right.. I’m going to completely change up my blogging style.  Rather than blogging once every 3 months and summing up my life, I’m going to keep the world informed as frequently as possible.  And chances are, these more frequent updates are going to be entirely random.. like today’s!
I really like Malcolm in the Middle – I think it’s a very funny show, and I always like to pretend I was as genius as Malcolm is when I was that age.   My one problem with the show is that I cannot, for the life of me, figure out the regular scheduling of it.  On FX, it’s on just about every afternoon, but it seems like the time changes on a day-to-day basis!  I just don’t get it!

Anywho, the reason I’m bringing Malcolm up is because the other day, I was watching it, and Cynthia (Malcolm’s sometimes girlfriend, but all the time dorky friend) was in the episode.  When I saw her, I had a Eureka (why is that “a” instead of “an”?  Any grammar nazis out there?) moment!  Cynthia is Alex in Lost!!!  Now, for those of you who haven’t yet gotten addicted to Lost (YOU SHOULD!), I’m not going to ruin anything, simply point out that Cynthia == Alex == Tania Raymonde.  I always enjoy moments like that – whenever my brain makes a neat connection like that.. so I thought I’d share.

I hope you all are having terrific summers thus far, and I look forward to blogging again soon!

A Day of WTFs

So I had my last final this morning at 8 in competitive programming (I rocked it.. I was the first one done who hadn’t done the program in advance, so I’m thinking I might have made the team!!).  Afterwards, I headed down to GotUsed to sell my books back.

WTF #1 – The cashier says, “I’m sorry.. this is actually an international edition.  It is illegal to buy or sell this in the United States.”  eeeeert… my bad?

WTF #2 – When cleaning out my trunk to pack it intelligently, I found an envelope from the department of Computer Science and Engineering here at Penn State crumpled up at the bottom.  I open it up to find a letter saying that I’ve been offered a $3,000 scholarship to replace the College of Engineering one that I have.  I don’t remember opening this letter or doing what it told me I had to do to accept it… Sorry Comp Sci, I’ve been cheating on you with the College of Engineering.

WTF #3 – I grab a sandwich from West Wing (pulled pork?! They’re trying new stuff at every MEAL!  why don’t they do this more often!!!) and head down to Moxies to get a smoothie.  The sheet has more than half of the options removed (understandable – it’s Finals Week, they’re not going to restock).  I fill out my form settling for the tried and true strawberries and bananas.  Hand it to the cashier, who says, “I’m sorry, we’re out of strawberries.. and bananas.”  How about we do peaches and pineapples then, eh?  “Yeah, we’re out of pineapples too.. sorry..”… Wow.  Why are you open??

We’ll see what kind of random moments packing up the rest of the room and heading home brings me.. I can’t even imagine what other weird things could happen…

(PS – sorry my life isn’t exciting..)

Summer is here!

So summer is (pretty much) here!!!  I’ve got an 8AM final Friday morning, but that’s in competitive programming, which there isn’t really a need for studying (let’s face it – I’m an awesome competitive programmer).  I have officially survived 3 years of college.  That’s pretty scary when you think about it – 3 years of college have passed me by, and now I’ve only got one year left.  That really makes me sad!  I’m not sure I’m ready for graduation and the real world…

This semester was a pretty solid one.  With only 13 credits, I had plenty of time to do fun stuff like helping out THON Technology in a million ways, getting addicted to Lost (oh my gosh – if you haven’t seen it – this show is amazing.), and turning 21.

THON was amazing this year.  Seeing even more people come together (over 3300 volunteers directly involved in the organizing of THON alone!) this year to raise an extra 1.4 million dollars over last year was absolutely awesome!  $6.6 million is really going to go a long way to helping out these families and I could not be prouder to be a part of such a wonderful philanthropy.  Being a Technology captain in 2007 was a great experience that really hooked me, but this year was even better because Tech has become my family, and I love it.  I consider everyone in Tech to be my best friends, and I look forward to hanging out with them at every chance I get.  Getting selected to be a 2009 Technology captain was terrific, because I get to continue on with a large portion of my 2008 family (though we will most certainly miss our graduating seniors!!!) as well as welcoming in several new members.  I can’t wait for the fall semester when our family can come even closer together.

Turning 21 has been pretty sweet – it’s nice to have no limitations (other than AARP membership and something about renting cars) on me any more, and the Penn State bar scene is pretty solid.  Although I haven’t been out too many times and haven’t really taken full advantage of the large number of bars out there, it has been fun to get to spend time with the people I’ve gotten to.

And after turning 21 and having that settle down, I found Lost.  On ABC.com, they have every episode of Lost seasons 1, 2, 3, and (the ones released so far in) 4.  With my addictive personality, I have been absolutely hooked, and have watched all of season 1, all of season 2, and the first half of season 3.  This show is incredible. The writing is insane, linking crazy things together from episode to episode, and making for one really addicting and really enjoyable show.  Also, the majority of the actors are fantastic at playing their parts.  If you haven’t gotten hooked, I strongly suggest you go to ABC.com and watch the first 3 episodes of season 1 (chances are you’ll get addicted in the first episode).  And if you ever want to discuss anything in the show at all, I’m always up for it!

Alright, now it’s time for me to go enjoy my freedom around here for the next 2 days!  I’ll be packing up and heading home on Friday after my exam, and will then have the rest of May to see Cranberry people, play Rock Band, and do whatever else I want to do (most likely getting Mario Kart Wii since it looks like a million hours of fun).  If anyone wants to get together at all let me know!

(PS – I’m still considering stopping my hosting service for dannyiachini.com … I really only use it for the blog, and I can blog on Facebook, so I’m paying a bunch of money for a redundant service.  If you know of a cheap hosting company, please let me know!  I’d love to have this sandbox to play around in, but I haven’t been taking advantage of it for how much it costs..)