In case you’re not aware, I will be traveling next week. Now, is this an issue? After all, I traveled to Iowa back in August and there was no problem. Correct, there wasn’t, but only because Iowa is still in the Central Time Zone. Vegas, on the other hand, is in the Pacific Time Zone, so I need to establish a way to continue making posts that keep my streak alive. The easy way is just to make sure I make posts by midnight Central Time, and all is good. Right?
Where this becomes more complicated is when traveling farther away from Dallas, say to Australia as an example. There I would only need to post by about 6:00 PM the following day in order to get in a post by midnight (e.g. Sunday’s post could be made by me at 5:55 PM on Monday). Fortunately because of the way time zones work, the only locales where this ends up being an issue are locations west of Dallas before crossing the International Date Line (so U.S. West Coast and Hawaii primarily).
When starting off this post, I actually didn’t think this was the way I was going to go. Reanalyzing my other choice (changing the time zone to reflect where I’m posting from), however, introduces another oddity. When traveling to Australia, an entire day of “local time” is lost (or gained) because of flight time and crossing the IDT (e.g. a Friday flight departing from Dallas arrives in Sydney on Sunday; the return flight from Sydney on a Sunday arrives back at Dallas only about 4 hours or so later that same day). Under this method, I basically couldn’t make a Saturday post on the way there even though I could very easily get in a post on Saturday by just making a post by 6:00 Sunday evening.
Well, I guess I’ve answered that question. On lengthier travels it might be worth changing the time zone setting, but I’m pretty sure I can handle time zone changes on my own for vacations. Not only do I get to use this blog as a place to write down random thoughts, but it helps me problem solve also!!
Personal - Dallas
Well, my N800 arrived today from Amazon, so I got a chance to play with it this afternoon. I’m still not sure if I’ll actually make use of it on a regular basis or if it’ll become just a fun toy like my PDA has been (yeah, I actually do have one of those). I have some pretty useful concept ideas for how I could use it, so we’ll just have to see if I follow through on any of those ideas.
The Golden Compass was an interesting movie; maybe it was knowing ahead of time that the book was written anti-religiously, but I actually noticed that more in this movie than I did the Christian parallels in Chronicles of Narnia. Not a bad movie, not a great one, but I’m unsure as of now whether it’s DVD purchasable or not. My score: 7/10.
Personal - Dallas
Not Texas Stadium, not UNT. Next Saturday at 1:00, HP and Everman will have their showdown at Mesquite Memorial Stadium. I’m perfectly content with this decision. As the title states, my favorite part about this decision would be that Memorial Stadium has no evil ramps. It does have an evil staircase, but that’s only for the stuff going up to the locker room and is only really a problem for the big blue case we take with us.
Tomorrow my grandparents are coming over here in the morning, and we’re going to see The Golden Compass out in Frisco at Stonebriar Center. The reason for this is because my mom wanted them to come over and see the tree colors and Christmas lights, so they’ll be over here for the better part of the day most likely. Aside from that, it’ll be a normal break day for me. Games, computer, and TV is all I really need to entertain myself. I should be getting my N800 by Wednesday, so that’ll be another new toy for me to play with and potentially take on our trip next week.
Personal - Dallas
Don’t get me wrong, I liked my Nokia 6682, but the Curve is much more in line with the type of phone that I’d figure people would expect me to have. I’ll probably hold off on getting memory card for it until I really determine if I need one or not, but I’ve already installed both the Facebook and Google Maps clients. It has GPS built into it, so the Google Maps client will even show me exactly (for the most part) where I am. We had to sign my number away to AT&T for two more years, but we’ll see if around this time year I look to non-AT&T sources for an upgrade.
We’ll be playing Everman next week, but apparently the site is still TBD. Supposedly there should be a decision sometime tomorrow, but since Everman is over fairly close to Fort Worth, I see Texas Stadium and UNT as probably being the two most likely options. I’m actually almost hoping that we don’t play at Texas Stadium just so that I don’t have to deal with any gigantic ramps for once. We had to walk slightly farther at UNT, but at least everything was fairly level there.
Personal - Dallas
Well, so much for those predictions. The West Mesquite ones, I mean. This was supposed to be a “close game” because they’re a much better team now and it’s hard to beat the same team twice in a season. May I direct your attention to the scoreboard: HP 49, West Mesquite 6.
We actually don’t know who or even where we’re playing next week. The who part will be decided tomorrow night, and the where should theoretically be decided at the same time; my sources (read: Coach Gibbins) weren’t knowledgeable enough to have that intel. If Everman wins then we’ll likely play once again at Texas Stadium. If it’s Rider, then maybe Texas Stadium, but I’ve also heard we could go to UNT. Either team is supposed to be the most difficult we’ve faced this year, and I know good an dwell that being one win away from state doesn’t is any way, shape, or form constitute a guarantee. Next week will be very interesting to watch.
Personal - Dallas
I’ve decided on what my new phone is going to be: the Blackberry Curve 8310. I went by the AT&T store this afternoon to hold it and play around with it for a little while, and I think that it’s a phone I’ll enjoy using. The store is actually having a $100 off special so that instead of $199 after the rebate, it’ll just be $99. That, combined with the fact that the data plan is only $30/month instead of $35, makes it a pretty no brainer choice over an iPhone for $400. I could have gone to get it tonight, but until I get a case for it and everything, I’m not going to want to use it (as with my current one a year ago). I’ll most likely drag my dad there on Saturday to get it for me. Man, my parents got off easy for Christmas this year…
I couldn’t come up with a second paragraph for my post yesterday, so I went ahead and submitted it rather than trying to furiously type something in at the last possible moment. I haven’t yet decided what I’m doing for lunch tomorrow, but I may just end up doing the same as last week: go to the Genghis Grill in Old Town (I have a certificate for a free “birthday bowl”) and then head over to HP about 2 hours early. Hopefully we’ll pull another Frisco tomorrow and beat West Mesquite once again. :)
Personal - Dallas
Earlier tonight I once again played the Maple Story TCG with Robert, and I’m finding it to be surprisingly fun. It’s not nearly as addicting as WoW, but Robert and I have played two 3-game matches so far (the first we drew 1-1 (long story, but we DQed the first game), the one tonight he won 2-1). Considering the last TCG game I really ever played was Magic, it’ll be interesting to see how long I stay interested in this one.
Personal - Dallas
Yep, I went to go see Enchanted today, only the second movie I’ve been to see since mid-August. The live action and animation worked quite well together, and there was even a CG chipmunk thrown in for good measure. Doubtful for a purchase, but probably on the rental list. My score: 7/10.
Tomorrow I actually have nothing planned, so I’ll have to come up with ways to entertain myself on the fly all day long. It’ll be like a Saturday except for the fact that I won’t be nearly as tired from the night before. Thursday will be the same, but then it’s back to a more normal Friday and Saturday because of the game.
Personal - Dallas
*Cue celebration music*
It took slightly over the allotted exam period time, but my last exam is done, and now I’m free!! This post is coming early since I’m actually going over to Robert’s apartment to play a game with him, and as we know from past experience, when I go gaming at night, sometimes I don’t get to a computer in time to make a post. Still not willing to let me streak end, I remembered to have the foresight to post early. Good me.
My dad found out that for whatever reason, he can’t get discounted iPhones through his company. So, this leaves me with three options: 1) Get an iPhone at retail price ($400), 2) Don’t do a phone upgrade for Christmas ($0), or 3) Upgrade to another phone in the $300-400 price range ($300-400). I’m seriously considering the latter option and getting a Blackberry, likely either the Curve or 8820 if I do go that route.
Personal - Dallas
I’ve finished up my presentation for tomorrow, so tonight and tomorrow morning all I need to do is run through it a couple times, I’ll present it tomorrow afternoon, and then I’m free!! On my first full day off (Tuesday), I’m probably going to do something that I don’t believe I’ve done since before school started in August: go see a movie with my grandparents. This time it’ll likely be Enchanted, but then in the next couple weeks we’re also planning on seeing The Golden Compass and National Treasure: Book of Secrets.
I don’t know any of my final exam or course grades yet, but I think that they all have to be submitted by Wednesday. I should get an A (or A+, but they’re both a 4.0) in all of my classes for the semester with maybe one class that I’m a little less sure about (Digital Logic). I’m not sure if I have to get all As or not for my GPA to increase; I may be able to get one A- (3.66)Â and still have it go slightly up. Regardless, it’s still going to be super high, and people are still going to at least act like they’re very impressed when I tell them whatever it is.
Personal - Dallas