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October 31, 2005

Good news at last

So last night Cris and I were finally successful in backing up my hard drive onto his computer, no need to spend $70+ trying to save a few pictures of my pony. Now I'm in Mann attempting to repair the HD myself (with the OS X DVD in). So far so good, I ran verify disk and it said "Volume Bit Map needs minor repair"....ok...so I clicked "repair disk" and now it tells me it's done - "1 HFS volume repaired". Hmm...so I guess i'm going to try starting it up again...? here goes nothing...maybe...maybe...ok, we have a background...oh man, this is getting my hopes up...oh my goodness I don't believe it! So it's working fine now! good as new! well I guess that is good news :D I'm gonna head off to class now, phew, one thing off my mind...

Posted by agutwin at 11:37 AM | Comments (1)

October 27, 2005

There's been an accedent in the family :'(

DeadHardDrive.jpg

OK, so this is not my hard drive, but I feel like it could be. Yesterday I got back to the room and i noticed my HD was spinning, so i tried to wake my comp up from sleep, to no avail. I finally shut it down, tried to turn it on a couple more times, and realized something horrible was wrong. Who ever said having a family full of computer engineers was a bad thing...I called my dad, explained the issue and got some sound advice: turn it off now, don't turn it back on. It isn't so far gone that it's giving me messages explaining that it is infact dying, so there may be some hope. I haven't done anything to it since last night, but I'd like to be able to back up my data onto my iPod. The only problem is, I'd need to turn my poor computer back on...I know that hard drives are funny things and the simplest action could send it to those purely gates of the computer parts dumpster. I'm a little ticked off at Apple too, my warrantee has been over for less than 6 months...oh well...the worst that will happen is I will loose all my pictures and need to shell out some non-existent money for a new HD.

That's what's going on with my computer, but unfortunately I have a ton of other stuff to deal with too. Apparently Julie is moving out next semester, for various reasons she tells me. I'm gonna miss her a lot, it is so nice to have a roommate that is there some of the time, and not others. The thing i'm worried about is that apparently Cornell is really short on housing, so theres a big chance they'll stick someone else in my room...the other thing is if they don't, then i'm stuck being by myself all the time - I don't have any close friends nearby. So that kinda stinks...

Also, I need to look for housing for next year. I don't want to be stuck on campus again, especially since my friends are getting a house/appt. The only problem is that i want to go abroad too, and I thought I had it all figured out b/c on of my other friends wants to go abroad as well, so we could just switch off semesters. The only problem is now he's not wanting to deal with the issue of deciding, so he says he's just going to live on campus. So I'm stuck again...I really, really don't want to live by myself on campus, and none of my other friends are going abroad/living in a house. I don't know what to do...I may end up rooming with one of my friends in the house if the landlord allows it, but I would really want my own space. So I need to deal with that situation, and get on top of looking for places.

The wire behind my front teeth has also come undone again, there's a little piece that's poking out and sticks my tongue sometimes...just to add to my annoyances.

And to top it all off, I have work all this weekend, a prelim today, and three next week...so no chance to slow down. I just want to curl up in a corner and sleep until after next friday.

Posted by agutwin at 10:18 AM | Comments (2)

October 25, 2005

Hot Drinks

*sigh* it's still raining outside, I had half-hoped that it would stop. I don't like the cycle of cold and wet, wet and warm, finally dry and warm, to cold and wet again as I shuffle from building to building. I've given into just wearing my hat all the time now, although the wool smells a little odd when wet. But, as Katie pointed out, not many people are going to be smelling my head...hopefully.

So I think in these next few days I will consume my body weight in hot drinks. This afternoon I got hot cider - mmmm :) it's so tasty. I'm so tempted to curl up in a corner of the library (I'm in Uris now) with my hot drink and my iPod :) I started listening to "The horse and his boy" after lunch....I'll get my homework done sometime, I always do.

And now for something almost completely different. After googleing "Hot Cider" I found this image and thought I'd practice my conformation evaluations for my horses class, so here goes:

Hot Apple Cider.jpg

This is a Thoroughbred named "Hot Apple Cider" by "Forbidden Apple"

This horse has a good expression, with alert ears, and a good eye. The lips are a little loose, but not too bad. The neck is shaped well, with a clean attachment at the throatlatch and is set high on the chest. The shoulder is long and has a good angle, which is important in athletic ability. The withers are set far back and (it's hard to tell with the mane) relatively prominant. The back is a little long, but there is adequate muscling on top and in the hind quarters. The front legs appear to be free of deformities, but it's hard to tell from the picture, the cannon bones are long, however. The hind legs have good angulation, and are neither camped out or in. Again, the cannon bones are long. Overall, from the side this horse appears to have very good breeding.

Posted by agutwin at 04:44 PM | Comments (1)

Cold, Wet Rain.

Well I was going to show you a picture of Ithaca's forcast, but I didn't feel like fussing with it (when I take a screen shot, it saves it as a PDF, which cannot be shown directly here, but only as a download). Oh well, it would probably be too depressing anyway - we have rain in the forcast for 9 out of the next 10 days....

Today is (surprise, surprise) cold and rainy, which makes it very hard to wake up. The rain is very thick too, so hit hits your head and runs down a ways. It's so unplesent outside that the 5 minute walk to Mann from my first class seemed too long so I had to duck into the Dairy Bar to grab a coffee to keep my hands warm. But I'm here now, and I'm planning on staying here until I eat lunch with Katie around noon.

Oh, I got my orgo prelim back - I got a 78 and the mean was a 71. The SD was around 17 though, pretty high. Still, I'm happy...that is until the next exam on the 10th :O that seems way too close.

Speaking of which, I have a ton of work these next two weeks, which, of corse is why I'm writing here. I made a "To Do" list for myself and got bumbed out when I filled up a sheet of paper...But I can handle it, as long as I don't go insane...

It's bad, but I've started to listen to the Narnia series on book-on-tape, or rather, book-on-iPod. I finished "the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" last night, even though I needed sleep. They're addicting and bring back comforting memories of mom reading to us at night (thanks mom!). I need to ration them, or else I'll spend hours and hours listening, and not do my work. OK, speaking of which...I have a behavior paper to write and orgo to study for...at least I'm dry (for now).

Posted by agutwin at 10:18 AM | Comments (0)

October 18, 2005

yey! - it's over!

So I think it went ok. There were some I definitly knew and some that I BS'd completely...oh well. I'm taking the night off - which means I should go to bed early...but I think i'm going to watch a movie :)

Posted by agutwin at 08:37 PM | Comments (0)

Chemistry is the devil

So the third orgo prelim in in a little under 2 hrs away and my brain feels like it's going to explode. The way my schedual worked out this time I did the bulk of my studying yesterday and today. That means i've had it up to here with alkenes, bonding, hydroboration, ozonolysis, chair conformations, ugg. I think studying before an exam is like trying to see how much water you can fit in your mouth. At first it seems like no problem, then pretty soon you realize there's no way you can get one more drop in without loosing some or, in this case, your mind. Then, when the actual exam comes, you can only hope that the squeezing on your cheeks makes the water come out in one big squirt rather than down the tube in one big choke. I think i'll do all-right on this one (I just can't figure out resolving enantiomers....grrrr) but I want to do REALLY well...that would probably mean going back in time at this point. Oh well, there's always the third prelim.

On a happier note, I finally got back my behavior prelim, and I got an 86 and the mean was a 77, so i'm happy (although I don't know the standard dev.). That class is fun and dosen't require much hard thought to do well. All my other classes are going all-right too, I'm just about the mean now, wich is an improvement from last year. I'm slowly refining my study habbits so that I do better and better. By the time I graduate I'll be ready to get a 4.0 :-P

But for now it's back to the books, and hopefully not just to sleep on...wish me good luck for 7:30

Posted by agutwin at 05:46 PM | Comments (1)

October 12, 2005

Library Fun

Mann_study_area.jpg whitelibrary.jpg

I'm waiting for Katie and Laura to go to dinner, so I figured i'd waste time here...So I've finally gotten good at actually using the librarys, especially to study. The one on the left is Mann library, located near my animal science classes. It's nice and new and has 3 floors that have long rows of desks and stacks nearby. It also has computers/printers on the first floor and, I'm happy to say, 4 macs (power macs) that are almost always available. One problem with Mann though, is that it's not open past midnight on weekdays, and not past 6 or so on weekends. It's also kind of far away from my room, so I use it in-between classes mostly.

The library on the left is called the A.D. White reading room or something like that. It's located in Uris library and is open 24/7 (although, get there early on sat to get a seat!). This is my hard-core study area, if I'm there, I'm gonna be there for a while and I'm gonna get some serious work done. I like this room a lot because it has three "floors", with spiral stair-cases in the corners and lots of open space. My imagination definitly goes to town in this room, it's easy to get lost in time. But Uris holds many other great places to study, including the fish bowl, the coctail lounge, and a large room with just desks. Uris has only 3 macs (again, power macs) but they get the job done.

I love the librarys, walking down the stacks and just knowing how much information is packed within those bindings. Walking though Mann is particularly interesting, just today I found a book called "Fishes in North American Deserts"...hmmm. Other days I have found books ranging from Native American horses to Tomatoes for processing. Every day in the library is an adventure :)

Posted by agutwin at 05:16 PM | Comments (1)

October 05, 2005

Girl All the Bad Guys Want

Julie makes fun of me, but I've had this song stuck in my head for a solid two days :) I think Evan from Absolute Acapella did it better than Bowling for Soup ("she's the gurl all the bad guys want!"), but I don't have a copy of their version (Danielle, can you help with this??). Anyway, because it's stuck in my head, I thought i'd try and get it stuck in yours too. I've you've never heard it, that's a shame, you sould, and if you have heard it then I hope it makes you happy too :) ok, so back to doin' work....

"Girl All the Bad Guys Want" - Bowling for Soup
8 o’clock, monday night and I’m waitin’
To finally talk to a girl a little cooler than me.
Her name is nona, she’s a rocker with a nose ring,
She wears a two way, but I’m not quite sure what that means.

And when she walks,
All the wind blows and the angels sing.
She doesn’t notice me!

Cause she is watchin’ wrestling
Creamin’ over tough guys
Listenin’ to rap metal
Turntables in her eyes

It’s like a bad movie
She is lookin’ through me
If you were me, then you’d be
Screamin’ "someone shoot me!"
As I fail miserably,
Tryin’ to get the girl all the bad guys want.
She’s the girl all the bad guys want!

She likes the godsmack and I like agent orange
Her cd changer’s full of singers that are mad at their dad
She says she’d like to score some reefer and a forty
She’ll never know that I’m the best that she’ll never have

And when she walks,
All the wind blows and the angels sing.
She’ll never notice me!

Cause she is watchin’ wrestling
Creamin’ over tough guys
Listenin’ to rap metal
Turntables in her eyes

She likes ’em with a mustache
Racetrack season pass
Drivin’ in a trans-am
Does a mullet make a man?

It’s like a bad movie
She is lookin’ through me
If you were me, then you’d be
Screamin’ "someone shoot me!"
As I fail miserably,
Tryin’ to get the girl all the bad guys want.
She’s the girl all the bad guys want!
She’s the girl all the bad guys want!
She’s the girl all the bad guys want!

There she goes again
With fishnets on, and dreadlocks in her hair
She broke my heart, I wanna be sedated
All I wanted was to see her naked!

Now I am watchin’ wrestling
Tryin’ to be a tough guy
Listenin’ to rap metal
Turntables in my eyes
I can’t grow a mustache
And I ain’t got no season pass
All I got’s a moped...moped....moped.....

It’s like a bad movie
She is lookin’ through me
If you were me, then you’d be
Screamin’ "someone shoot me!"
As I fail miserably,
Tryin’ to get the girl all the bad guys want.

She’s the girl all the bad guys want!
She’s the girl all the bad guys want!
She’s the girl all the bad guys want!
She’s the girl all the bad guys want!
(there she goes again)
She’s the girl all the bad guys want!
She’s the girl all the bad guys want!
(there she goes again)
She’s the girl all the bad guys want!
She’s the girl all the bad guys want!

Posted by agutwin at 06:47 PM | Comments (0)

October 03, 2005

THIRD EYE BLIND

3EB-Pepperdine-Mar29-03.jpg

So last night after getting back from a trip to the Gunks (that entry will come later when I have pics), I went to the Third Eye Blind concert w/ Katie, Laura, Danelle, Chris, Steven and Amy. I'm not a huge fan of the band, but I thought the concert was done well and we had a fun time. Matt Nathanson, who did the opening, was kind of boring, but that could have been because I didn't know any of his songs and he looked like a John Mayer wanna-be. He also kept on trying to make jokes on stage, but at least where I was we couldn't understand what he was saying...

It was really cool because they premiered some songs that'll be on their new album. They also played their classics and some ones I didn't know, so I thought it made for a good mix. I was a little bumed that we weren't that close to the stage, but I guess it's better to not be trampled.... Also, there was a group of people behind us that were smoking pot, so it made the place kinda stink. But still, it was Third Eye Blind, so I can't complain too much :)

It almost felt like a dream yesterday: bouldering in the Gunks in the morning and going to a rock concert that night... :D

Posted by agutwin at 04:06 PM | Comments (0)