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February 28, 2005
Belgian Beer, Little Twits, and Beyonce
Wow what a weekend. Definitely a good one. Full of Action
Friday.
Finally I get a day off! I sat around talking online for far too long, but I just had to go out and have a few drinks, so I did! I had some really weird Belgian beer. I forget the name, but the taste was very distinct. It's definitely not what I'm used to.
As I was driving home, I stopped by to talk to Tim. It's always a good time at Marcy Park Apartments. I really got to relax which is something I haven't been able to do in a long time. Thanks Tim.
Saturday.
Work wasn't running as smoothly as it should. Tony was on vacation so we didn't have the 4th person up front as usual. Thus, the information that open tables were open wasn't getting relayed as fast as it should have been. Nonetheless, everyone got in on a timely manner except for one party.
One guy left because I quoted him 45 minutes for a table of five and by the time 50 minutes rolled around he yelled at me and just left, shouting, "you just lost 200 dollars" or whatever.
WHATEVER! Okay I'm sorry I can't predict the future. Some parties stay longer because they like to drink after dinner. If he would have stayed 10 more minutes he would have goten a table.
I can handle that.
While I was preparing some tables for seating, this one man from a party of three must have exchanged some discourse with Kim, the other host who was at the front desk. I really don't understand what went on, but when I got back this man demanded a pager (when he was first put on the list we were all out).
Anyhow, I was giving out our last pager to someone and he comes up and calls Kim a "little twit" after she leaves to fetch something. I mean, I honestly don't know what evoked such hostility. He didn't get a table and slower or any faster.
I didn't really need him yelling at me about what Kim did. And it didn't help the situation at all.
Sunday.
I studied with Erin for a few hours at Moos Tower. Well, she studied while I did my application for the Bioinformatics Summer Institute. I am praying to God I get this internship. It means an extra $5,000. This will basically cover my entire living expenses (well, just rent and food) next year. All I will have left is tuition and books. Working at the pasta bar a few nights a week should add another $500 per month. I am biting my lip right now to keep myself from bitching about the price of tuition.
Apparently I had to work the front desk last night. I was a little panzy and whined and complained to everyone to take my shift so I could go to the 90s (don't ask me why I wanted to go...it's a lame reason). Thank God Dave took a few hours of my shit...I should buy him some beer. But the 90s was a great time, and something might have started.
Okay I can't stop myself anymore. I'm sick of supporting old people with social security and getting nothing in return. They should support my education!!! The price of a higher education is ridiculous and heavily favored toward those with money. The current system that is designed measures parental income as a measure of financial aid. However, even if a parent makes a ton of money, this has no indication of the parents' generosity towards their child.
The current system is out of date and needs to be reformed. Tuition in Germany is 100 dollars at most. Why is it 100 times that here?
Posted by piep0058 at 03:35 PM | Comments (5)
February 24, 2005
One more shot
Who's Your 80s Movie Icon Alter-Ego? Find out @ She's Crafty
Posted by piep0058 at 03:45 PM | Comments (0)
Sipping on Disaronno
More time for online quizzes. Here we go.
What's Your Problem? Find out @ She's Crafty
Posted by piep0058 at 03:37 PM | Comments (1)
February 23, 2005
The Pope on Philosophy
Yay someone sent me this delightful story about the Pope's newly published book.
This is something that has always bugged me about religion. How can someone say something is evil? What persuasion do they have? They claim God the Almighty has spoken to them.
And they claim that you have to rely on faith in lieu of proof. And if you don't have faith, you're going to a really bad place.
Wait, I've heard this before. Maybe it was George Carlin.
Growing up in the Catholic church I was told over and over again not to judge anyone. And now the Pope is judging people. Something about this scenario really bothers me. The leader of the Catholic church, who preaches not to judge, for you yourself will be judged, is judging acts as evil. The pope does not represent God, rather a group of men where he was elected. What makes him different than any other man?
Posted by piep0058 at 03:33 PM | Comments (3)
I'm pissed
This is more of a mental note than an actual entry:
Joe, please don't fuck up again. We've gone through this before. Just say NO next time.
Posted by piep0058 at 12:47 AM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2005
New Look
Okay, I know, my eyes are scary. But I'm trying a new look. I guess I cleaned up my room and figured my blog needed a new look as well.
In case you find something horribly wrong with the look, it's okay, so do I. Gimme a week or two to change it.
Posted by piep0058 at 06:37 PM | Comments (1)
February 19, 2005
I'm easily amused
I was doing some homework for ChEn4201 with the program MATLAB when I thought about how amazing the scrolling feature on my computer was. I mean, how do they do that! Here I am doing menial computer programming. And somehow there is someone who figured out how to make a scroll on the right of my page that I can click on to move the page around.
I know, it's lame, but I'm easily amused.
Posted by piep0058 at 04:03 PM | Comments (2)
Weekend of Duty
This is the only weekend out of the year where I will be on duty for a full two days. And really it isn't that bad. Yeah, I would prefer to go out today. Just walk around at least. Just look at some views. Speaking of views, here are some that I took when I was at home in Missouri. This is Castlewood State Park. A little known secret is that everyone likes to smoke pot here. Shhhh...don't tell!
There's a train from Union-Pacific Railroads that goes through the heart of the park. I like that there is a 300 foot drop right in front of me right now. Thus, when I fall off the cliff I'll most likely die before getting hit by the train.
For some reason I thought these trees were interesting.
Chemicals in the Meremac River? Or just naturally green?
Awww look, my dog is so cute.
Posted by piep0058 at 02:07 PM | Comments (5)
February 16, 2005
I'm filled with anticipation
In the sacrastic sense of course. Personally I am trying to stall time so much right now it's not even funny.
HOMEWORK HOMEWORK HOMEWORK!!! KING AND I KING AND I KING AND I!!!
Thus describes my situation right now. Gotta get my work done so I can go out tonight after the staff meeting for 2for1s at the King and I. Or at least that's what Jason Helm says... he better not be lying. And if he is, oh well, it's been a while since I've been out.
For some reason I've been thinking a lot of where I want to live when I "grow up." I've ruled out many possibilities. A suburban area that is miles away from an urban center is definitely out. So what's in? Well, I have mixed feelings about a place like the Carlyle. It's nice, but would I want to be confined to an apartment? A loft sounds like a better idea, such as these ones. I find these to be much more attractive than even the most luxurious apartment.
And what about a house that's say, within two or three miles of downtown? The Lake of the Isles neighborhood (assuming I can afford it) is really attractive. And it's not like I'd be some lame suburbanite like my mom or dad. I just couldn't let that happen to myself.
Posted by piep0058 at 05:15 PM | Comments (4)
February 15, 2005
The Good Old Days
I guess it's just cuz I'm at the front desk, but for some reason looking at all these old pictures from the University of Minnesota Archives is really entertaining me right now! Especially the ones of all the places I'm used to seeing everyday.
My how things have changed. The doubles wing on Comstock. The Pearcy Wing of Amundson. The front desk of Walter Library. The West Bank. It's all just nuts to me. It's also nuts to see how things can get so ugly.
At least Walter has been restored. But Amundson? Burton? The West Bank? (well, the west bank was never really that attractive). What the hell happened? Why are things so ugly? I don't understand how people could not have seen it coming. I mean, this is near Riverside Plaza standards. What were they thinking?
Maybe I am being a little harsh. But honestly, can't they make things just a wee bit more aesthetically pleasing? Just take out Anderson, Belgen, Social Sciences, Heller, Ferguson, Rarig, and Wilson.
I think I phrased it best this way: If I were filming a horror movie I would definitely do it on the West Bank. North of Washington Ave. is okay. Carlson, the HHH, Regis, and Barker Center, and Middlebrook are okay. Take out everything else.
I'm done bitching about bad architecture.
Posted by piep0058 at 09:19 PM | Comments (0)
February 13, 2005
I thought I was worse...
I try to stay away from evil deeds but succumb to temptation every once in a while. I'm not quite on my way to hell but I certainly have some explaining to do.
Are you evil? find out at Hilowitz.com
Posted by piep0058 at 11:02 PM | Comments (1)
Walking Pictures
Okay so here are some pictures from yesterday's afternoon stroll around town. The first picture I took was this one, just because I felt it was a good starting place.
I headed east, snapped the picture of that weird house (see yesterday). Headed south, saw a bench and thought I'd take a picture of it. I hate it when people think they're so witty when it's something as boring as a bench.
Actually I wish we had more benches like these. This one has class. It's nice and shiny, unlike a lot of the other benches that are falling apart and I'll break if I put my 80 kilos on them.
I met up with Brent and Derek at near Lake Calhoun. It took me a while to get there, I guess I could have taken the shortcut on top of Lake of the Isles, but I just wasn't thinking. When I finally got to Lake Calhoun loads of people were walking out on the ice. It was pretty thick, so I guess it was safe. However my southern roots have always told me that lakes are always unsafe.
We got some coffee, talked about gay things (coming out, etc.), then I headed back. I stopped to take a picture of this poor little bird. Must've had a heart attack or something.
This was about a block away from 26th & Euclid.
Posted by piep0058 at 07:10 PM | Comments (5)
February 12, 2005
Thank the Lord for Warm Weather
So in case anyone was new to Minneapolis, the weather we've been having lately is nothing typical. Today's high was 30 degrees warmer than normal. So I took advantage of all this warmth (50 degree warmth) and took a walk around town. And I brought my camera.
The first thing I saw (I've seen this house many times, especially on bike) but this is the first time with my camera handy. Many of you surely know it, it's right near the cedar lake trail near 22nd Avenue South.
Okay, it's not that I hate this house, it's just that the huge windows seem a little public. Even thought I love big windows, I still want the luxury to walk around naked any time of the day I wish. And you just can't do that in this house. Well, I guess you could, but whatever. The house is cool, but it's placement in a metropolitan area, and especially next to a trail sorta make seem out of place.
Posted by piep0058 at 11:38 PM | Comments (1)
February 08, 2005
I love Penguins
Well, I don't love them. But when I think of cute animals they are high on my list. I'm sure everyone is familiar with the gay penguins at some zoo around the world: The Central Park Zoo, Japanese Zoos, New Zealand.
Now somebody just sent me this cute article. I think this is the rationale that my sisters have: I just haven't found the right girl. I really don't think this is the case, obviously. I'm sure I could do it though if humans became endangered and there was a really hot girl around.
Posted by piep0058 at 03:59 PM | Comments (2)
February 07, 2005
Political Views, According to TheFaceBook
Now, I'm sort of on this lack of sleep crazy-spell right now where I do tedious things such as look up on TheFaceBook people's political views for every single major out there. Unfortunately I couldn't compare the entire Institute of Technology to the entire Carlson School of Business Management, so I had to look at individual majors (i.e. chemical engineering, finance, etc.). And then they have to make things even more complicated by adding "very conservative" and "very liberal" to the choices.
For the purpose of this "study" I'm going to disregard those, as well as those that responded "moderate," "libertarian," "apathetic," and "other."
Here's just a few majors I picked out of the list. For each major, the liberal total comes first, followed by the conservative total (as of February 7, 2005):
Accounting: 28, 51
Aerospace engineering: 24, 29
Architecture: 82, 38
Biomedical Engineering 39, 20
Business and Marketing Education: 87, 87
Chemical Engineering: 45, 30
Chemistry: 73, 46
Civil Engineering: 29, 34
Communication Studies: 106, 59
Cultural Studies and Comparitive Literature: 22, 0
Economics: 51, 55
Electrical Engineering: 36, 35
English: 127, 26
Entrepeneurial Management: 35, 41
Environmental Science: 21, 4
Finance: 74, 121
Geography: 20, 3
History: 120, 42
International Business: 20, 31
Journalism and Mass Communications: 258, 98
Law: 39, 18
Marketing: 108, 101
Material Science and Engineering: 3, 7
Mechanical Engineering: 54, 52
Music Performance: 34, 6
Physics: 34, 8
Political Science: 225, 96
Psychology: 322, 76
Theatre Arts: 60, 5
Women's Studies: 24, 14
Now I must question, does political philosopy determine which field people enter? Although I have no real statistical information, I can safely say that most people who choose Cultural Studies and Comparitive Literature as their major tend to be more liberal. Did their political philosophy have something to do with that? Or, did their interest in the subject make them more liberal?
I tend to think it to be the latter, that the material presented to a person affects their political philosophies a great deal.
But for some reason in the past few weeks I have been wondering a lot about engineering students political beliefs. Most of the people in my classes tended to be towards the upper 10% of their high school class. There seems to be a great deal of resent in IT towards "the lesser majors" in CLA and CBS. I guess there is a lot of libertarian views among the students. No one ever wants any help, except with their problem sets. A lot of students in IT feel that they are able enough to take care of themselves, so why shouldn't everyone else be just as able without help from the government.
Even with this background, a lot of students haven't shown this conservativeness that I had expected. It could possibly be due to the ethics lectures that we have had. At least with chemical engineering, we have to hear every year about the Union Carbide disaster. And while most engineering students come from middle-to-upper-class families and feel they will never need any help from the government, the idea of minimizing impacts on the environment is a big topic of concern that is stressed to us.
At least this is the curriculum at the University of Minnesota. I'd be interested in gathering this data off TheFaceBook from other universities.
CSOM on the other hand, as far as I know, doesn't introduce any business ethics toward the environment. (If I'm wrong please correct me, I'm just guessing here.) There is still the same student base that was in the top 10% of their high school and the same middle-to-upper-class families, but ethics are stressed less. I mean, what's so bad about doing something financially illegal?
Posted by piep0058 at 03:26 PM | Comments (4)
Romance is Dead
I know this might be obvious to others, but I guess I was holding out hope that the inexplainable feelings of love truly exist. I just don't understand how they are supposed to work nowadays. Am I getting too old? The minute I think of getting excited about a relationship I stop myself and downplay it to the point of where I am so emotionally blase' about everything.
I don't know what my problem is. Stuff like this happens all the time. You'd think I'd have learned by now.
Maybe I'm just going insane right now because it's 2:30 and sleep is no where in sight. I swear I thought my bottle of Dr. Pepper was an anaconda. This scared me so much I fell out of my chair. A snake in my room? Please...
Posted by piep0058 at 02:26 AM | Comments (4)
February 06, 2005
The Best Latte Ever (or at least a long time)
I decided that before I started my homework today, I should get a latte. And I went to the coffee shop closest to my new house, which is actually about a mile away in St. Anthony Park. I really didn't expect such a great latte, but oh my god, the latte from the Dunn Bros. next to the Finnish Bistro (formerly Taste of Scandinavia) right at Como and Carter was delicious! It was so good it made my dick go hard.
Too bad there isn't anywhere closer to the house. I think that's something the Como neighborhood is lacking. Yes, there are two very classy bars right at 24th and Como by the railroad tracks, and there is of course the Playground Nightclub right at Como and 280...but I'm going to pull the pretentious card out and claim I'm too good for those.
I wonder if a bakery in that area would be profitable. Like, it can be an early morning snack place, and also a late night coffee house. Maybe something next to Joe's Market? I think it'd be a good investment just because I would love a cute cafe or something that I could walk to in five minutes, or bike in a few minutes. I could play my eclectic style of music and have nice artwork and I could use my Caribou Coffee skills to make it happen.
Posted by piep0058 at 03:30 PM | Comments (5)
February 05, 2005
It's Official!
I no longer will be a CA for the 2005-2006 year in Housing and Residential Life. I just signed a lease today to live in a sweet townhouse down Como Ave. Sure, it'll be about a 10 minute bike ride or bus ride, but I think I'll enjoy it.
And I love my new roommates: Jess, Dubs, Rob, Ry Ry, and Paige.
I can't wait to go to IKEA!!!
It's not that I didn't want to come back as a CA. I just wanted to do this more. And considering that maintenance in my building hates me...it swayed my decision not to return. It's not my fault there are rowdy guys on my floor. I've stressed this topic many times to my residents: be quiet, and don't damage the building, because if you wouldn't want to clean it up yourselves, maintenance or I probably wouldn't want to either. But things still happen, and maintenance bitches about how I'm the CA that "doesn't care." What the fuck ever. I'm sorry I have better plans for myself than to work in a dorm cleaning things the rest of my life.
I guess if I had their job I'd be bitter too. But really, I do my best to clean up what I can when I see it, and to guide others down less destructive paths. It's not my duty to monitor students 24/7.
Posted by piep0058 at 04:28 PM | Comments (1)
February 02, 2005
Mmmm Vodka
Ok I swear there are things on my mind. Actually things are going well, it's just difficult right now to express some minor things. And I guess these online quizzes is my way of avoiding them. So here's one I saw on Dan's website:
Vodka
?? Which Alcoholic Drink Are You ??
brought to you by Quizilla
And now, a Days of Our Lives Update (even though I haven't seen it for about 3 or 4 weeks). Belle and Phillip got married; Jack escaped from the Dimera castle, called home, but Jennifer erased the message by mistake; Abby grew up 10 years in 10 days so now she's an adolescent lusting after 30 year old men; Shawn Douglass is in a lot of trouble cuz Jan (the bitch) drugged him; John Black is on drugs and still making weird faces.
Posted by piep0058 at 09:53 AM | Comments (0)
February 01, 2005
No surprise
Ok so I took another online quiz along the lines of the death test. This one appealed to me because it told me what kind of engineer I would be. And, wow what a surprise, it told me I would be an environmental engineer.
And they put a nice picture to go with it. Awww cute.
Don't I have a mass transfer and diffusion test this friday...ha! who cares!? Actually I do.
Posted by piep0058 at 11:57 PM | Comments (1)