so yes, i was lost in the ether for the last couple of weeks. it was a combination of just enjoying sitting around doing nothing, finishing other work that i had been putting off far too long and foregoing the internet to actually go to bed at a reasonable hour. so here’s what’s been up:
1. I’m officially done with school now. that take home final i had sitting around was sent in last week and i graduated last saturday. (i would post a couple pictures but man does my head look fat in those pictures). Those were the last finals and that was the last graduation EVER. Here’s the only real retrospective thought i’ve put into this occassion: I’m glad I didn’t take time off between undergrad and law school. Granted it meant i was probably the youngest person in my class and there were probably some life experiences i missed, but there is no way i would have put in anywhere near this amount of work had i tasted life without school.
2. I started a new project. I’m helping my friend joe build his own pvr (personal video recorder) aka tivo aka Freevo. We looked up a few articles online where people had built these things and it seems easy enough. luckily joe was able to save some money by using an old case, power supply, processor and ram. but we did have to get more ram, a new video card, a gigantic new hard drive (250 GB) and a bundle of tv recording software, wintv card and remote control for the software. all in all, its set him back about as much as an 80 hour tivo with a year and a half subscription. so what’s the sense in this endeavor you ask? well, in the end he’ll have something that can record up to 125 hours, he’ll have a tv card that let’s him watch one thing and record another (something tivo can’t do), the computer is substantially more expandable and versatile than a tivo and he doesn’t have to pay a dime to the Man (aka tivo). so yeah, we got all the parts, its just a matter of finding the time to put everything together and actually get it working.
3. I’m unofficially playing the role of real estrate investor. my dad just sold a duplex he owned in stockton that he’d been renting out for the last 12 or 13 years. now we under the gun to reinvest that money in a like property otherwise my dad has to pay taxes on it. we went out to lathrop and los banos last weekend looking at places to buy. aside from the fact that these places are hot as hell, i found people were awfully uppity for people in lathrp and los banos. just about every development we looked at said they weren’t selling to investors (aka people like us who just want to buy to rent the place out or sit on it a couple years and sell it for profit). i mean, holy crap, lathrop is like the neglected middle sibling of tracy and stockton and los banos is generally just a craphole. who are these people to be picky? but the search continues…next stop, in all likelihood, merced.
4. this brings me to probably the most important update. i just started my bar prep course today. this means that for the next 8 weeks, my blog entries will be few and far between (as if they aren’t already). i also won’t be on AIM even remotely as much. right now, i’m planning 20-30 minutes a week just so people know i’m still alive and to preserve my own sanity. i can’t in good conscience even think about goofing off until after this damn exam. so your best bet for the next 2 months is gonna be to just e-mail me. i’ll enjoy the break.
so yeah, that’s about it. oh yes, and for anyone interested (by that i mean chris), i had my jeopardy try-out last wednesday. as i expected i didn’t pass the test. it was surprisingly difficult. there’s a world of difference between sitting at home and yelling answers at your tv and sitting in a room with 79 other people that think they are just as smart, if not smarter, than you and having 8 seconds to answer a question. only 6 people in my room of 80 people passed the first test. no one knows what score was needed to pass or how many questions over/under we were. but its no big deal. i was there just for fun and i got a nifty jeopardy pen out of it.