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I'm just here for the gasoline.
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 29th, 2009|12:59 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Cologne | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  excited | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Manilla Road - Flesh And Fury | ] |
Tomorrow morning my mom will be back from South Africa, so now I'm at her place, letting loose the long-eared beasts which haven't gotten out since I was here last weekend, just cleaned and fed by a neighbor/co-worker. They were so happy to see me and get out, they'll probably explode when she returns XD
I ordered a new monitor yesterday! It's this one, sort of:
http://www.lge.com/uk/it-products/monitors/LG-lcd-monitor-W2452T.jsp
(Mine's a W2452TX, but I can't really find any differences except that it's cheaper.)
This will actually be the first monitor ever that I bought brand new and on my own. Wow.
You see, as a child and a teen, both my computers and monitors were usually handed down from benevolent family members, and even my trusty, remarkably durable 15-inch Nokia was bought second-hand from my mother's workplace. It was quite good for a TFT back then, but I've had it for what, eight, nine years now? Yeah, I think it's about time for a replacement.
What remains to be seen is if my PC can handle the awesomeness. My current P4 is fine for work and internet and such, but with its 512MB RAM and Radeon8500, playing any recent games or going on SL is pretty much out of the question. The new monitor will probably push it to its limits.
Sure, I could revive my Athlon3200+ for about 40 Euros, but I fear that in the end, it would be only slightly less outdated than my current machine. So, now that I'm earning some money, building a new one is becoming more and more attractive. I blame you, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) jakkal, and AMD for making their CPUs so goddamn affordable ;P |
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| Oh Yeah. |
[Oct. 5th, 2009|11:25 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | excited | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Deep Purple - Somebody Stole My Guitar | ] |
Whee! As of tomorrow, I'll have a job! Well, student job anyway ;)
I got lucky because when I called, the job that had been posted was already gone, but it turned out they needed someone else for a different project and apparently my call came at exactly the right time. Went there friday afternoon for an interview, but they didn't really ask a lot of questions, mostly they gave me a short tour of the facility, showed me the job I'd be doing and said they'd call me when I could start. That happened today while I was on a train to get something I had wanted for a long time...
After I had just about been fed up with trying to get a Wacom (of any sort) for a reasonable price and decided to maybe go with one of the less reputable brands that had halfway favorable ratings... I got this nice Bamboo Fun Medium for 79€ off eBay, about half the original price! Sure, it's no Intuos, but I kinda feel I could never use one to its full potential anyway, and this one's pretty neat really. A5 sized, which you can't get with the regular Bamboo, plus better pressure sensitivity and eraser tip which are neat bonuses. As for the bundled software, ArtRage looks like it could be a lot of fun, though I don't really care for Photoshop Elements. I've got GIMP and it works perfectly with the tablet.
Yep, a good day.
May yours be the same! |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 30th, 2009|03:13 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  disappointed | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Saxon - Jack Tars | ] |
Called the company this morning to find out wether I got the job, which I didn't. I did expect it though because I caught a nasty cold on thursday, resulting in a somewhat awkward interview. No luck here at the university either, they had hired someone else just before I called. There's still a position at a laser company where the human resources person is on vacation, so I'll have to call back tomorrow and see, but otherwise I guess I'll need to keep looking.
On an entirely unrelated subject, I've spent a few evenings now, looking for an affordable tablet on eBay, but so far it's been a quite frustrating experience. It seems almost impossible to get a Wacom -even a Bamboo or Graphire- at a reasonable price. I'm almost at the point of saying "fuck it" and going with an A5 (8x6in) Manhattan, which is supposedly halfway decent for its price, but right now I'm still waiting to see if I can get a lucky shot at a Wacom.
That's all for now, take care. |
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| Update! |
[Sep. 24th, 2009|05:37 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  awake | ] |
The new term will begin soon, and I feel like it's the first one in quite a while I can look forward to. Not that it'll be easier, hell no, I'll have even less money and I'm still behind in my studies, but passing that exam which unceremoniously ended my stay in Dresden and the distinct lack of life-threatening infections are positively motivating, as is the fact that I have a job interview on friday. To be honest my qualifications for that specific area of work (fiber-reinforced plastics)aren't very impressive, but you never know. I hope I can convince them that studying a vaguely relevant subject counts for something and if nothing else, I'm highly motivated by the desire to stop being poor. |
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| Give me an F, give me an A, give me an I, give me an L! |
[May. 27th, 2009|08:14 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  about to get hammered | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Old Man's Child - Demons Of The Thorncastle | ] |
Ah those days in one's life comprised of nothing but utter fail.
I seem to be a magnet for them lately.
Time for the only remedy I know to work: a bottle of cheap whisk-ey and amplified guitars.
Seeya later. |
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| Bad luck... or is it? |
[May. 18th, 2009|12:36 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  cheerful | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Borknagar - The Winterway | ] |
I seem to have no luck with anything electronic lately... especially PCs.
This time it's the hard drive.
Luckily I had most of my stuff backed up on the secondary disk, but my email history and some files I hadn't backed up yet are toast, and of course I had no functioning OS. I wasn't keen on buying new PC parts anytime soon, just last week I went out and bought myself a new helmet and some textile pants plus armor inserts which set me back quite a few Euros, but after contemplating the fact that all working hard drives I have are showing their age, I figured I should go and buy a new one and be safe from any more nasty surprises. So I went and got myself a new SATA 500GB WD Caviar Green. I put it into the 2.4GHz P4 I had wanted to use for some time, but didn't because I couldn't get it to work with the XP on the old hard drive or connect to the internet in ubuntu. I figure I was being blocked by the network for being on a PC it didn't recognize. I wrote an email to our admins, initially the problem persisted but obviously it's fixed now :D
tl;dr My hard drive died which sucks, but at least it forced me to switch to a different PC that was just standing around catching dust, despite being better than the one I had, so I guess it's alright. And I have a shiny new helmet with an integrated sun visor which totally rocks!
See you around. |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 30th, 2009|12:34 am] |
I'm almost done with packing my stuff and managed to dismantle some of my furniture.
Looks like I'll be moving tuesday afternoon. I'd have liked to do it over the weekend, but alas, a visit to the dorm on friday proved that the room was still inhabited and will be until tomorrow afternoon.
I'd move in right after he left, unfortunately my schedule neatly placed a course in that timeframe, but I plan to at least paint the room in the evening. The visit has revealed it to be permeated by a nasty stench, which suggests either a faulty sink (Yes, it has a sink. Very practical.) or unpleasant implications about the current tenant's approach to hygiene. In any case Ew. He also insisted the walls were still good enough to not need painting, so I'll probably use "smells of smoke" or something as an excuse.
Sadly I haven't found a garage yet, or at least none I'd be willing to pay as much for as the owner asks. We'll see, she did offer to call me back once one of the smaller and cheaper ones is available. |
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| Dead or not? |
[Mar. 14th, 2009|07:51 am] |
The MZ drama doesn't seem to be quite over.
I've just come across some articles in a German moto mag and local newspapers that they finally might have found some investors: former GP riders Ralf Waldmann and Martin Wimmer.
If we're to believe them they "secured 98% of the funding", already registered the new company's name with the local authorities and look to set the deal before march 19th. Hmmmmmm...
I want to believe. |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 8th, 2009|01:21 am] |
Things are going well for once.
My application for a dorm room has been approved, I should manage to clear the bureaucratic hassles of the actual renting process in the next few weeks and move in around the 1st of April.
The most important aspect here is of course that it costs over 100 Euros less a month, money I can really use, but aside from that it's also a fairly nice place if you don't mind the usual shared bathroom/kitchen and the somewhat oddly shaped rooms. In addition to highspeed internet thanks to a dedicated fiber-optic line, it has a small gym, a sauna and a bar open every wednesday. Not to mention it's five minutes walking distance from the aerospace department, instead of the half-hour bus ride and ten minute walk from where I currently reside.
I've also ordered a new printer to replace the Canon i550 that died on me (Apparently they all do that. Planned obsolescence?) back in january, it should arrive on monday and relieve me of having to go to the university/library for every little print job. It was suspiciously cheap for a supposedly brand new DeskJet 5650, but we'll see. At least I'm confident it will be a better choice than the used Business Inkjet 1100 for 15 Euros that I had seriously considered at one point XD
My lungs seem to be healing nicely too, but I'll be a nice patient and take it easy for a few more weeks like the doctor said.
That's all for now, take care. |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 19th, 2009|09:54 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  meme-ing | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | T.M. Stevens - Why We Rock So Hard | ] |
Comment to this post and I will give you about 5 subjects/things I associate you with. Then post this in your LJ and elaborate on the subjects given.
Taking over from shadhahvar:
( Talking about Motorcycles and Germany, pondering the fate of Black Tapestries, trying to define Internet Friendships and musing about 80's Music )
That's that. I had to hold myself back a bit, especially on the subject of motorcycles ;P
Ask in the comments and you shall receive 5 things to endlessly mull about too!
Right now, carnival has completely taken over the city, something Cologne is famous for. Me, I don't particularly like it because I don't like forced jolliness. I'm not the type to go out and party with people I have nothing in common with just because they're wearing a costume. Aside from the fact that I'm still recovering from that pneumonia, so partying of any kind is out of the question for at least a month.
Aachen isn't less infected with the carnival virus, which will last until wednesday. Regardless I'll probably return sunday or monday. |
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| Biological Warfare |
[Feb. 17th, 2009|11:02 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Cologne | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  tired | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | The White Stripes - Why Can't You Be Nicer To Me? | ] |
I guess I know now why it's a bad idea to go jogging early in the morning at near freezing temperatures: It can give you a nasty case of pneumonia, which was the reason for my recent absence from IM services and the internet in general.
It started about three weeks ago, in the first week I just vegetated in a delirious daze and didn't even think of going to a doctor until friday. They promptly refused to check me on grounds of an expired healthcare card, so -knowing I wouldn't make it back there again if I went home to find the replacement card- I went to the pharmacy and got some paracetamol to get me through the weekend, but that saturday I had a sudden rush of fear. I mean that really bad, mortal kind of fear. So I called my mom and asked her to get me to the hospital in Cologne because understandably, my trust in Aachen's medical facilities was somewhat shaken. At the emergency ward they diagnosed me with a bacterial infection and sent me on my merry way with some antibiotics. The next thursday it was clear that they didn't work, and an X-ray finally revealed the pneumonia which by then was quite serious, so the doctor had me admitted to the hospital that same evening. I spent over a week there, receiving antibiotic infusions through one of those things they pu in your arm, and various pills until it was determined via x-ray and lung testing that I was well enough to be released. That was last friday. I felt pretty weak over the weekend still, which is probably due to the fact that a hospital isn't a very relaxing environment, but now I'm obviously well enough to at least get on the internet again ;)
According to the doctor, full recovery will take until at least mid march, so that means no party, no sports and no heavy physical activity until then.
Pity because there's a Judas Priest concert next tuesday, with Megadeth and Testament too. I wanted to go with my mom because she hasn't been to a concert for over a year too, she even bought the tickets, but she doesn't want to go alone so we're selling them on ebay.
I missed out on a great deal of exams too, they were all held last week except for two that will be in mid-march. I had already cancelled a few beforehand because the lack of sleep in those first two weeks left me unable to concentrate, much less learn, so I knew I wouldn't be able to pull off 6 exams in 5 days. Luckily my mom got in contact with the university so they'd know I was sick and not just skipping the exams, which would mean automatic failing. So now I need to re-take the exams in the summer term, where I already wanted to be finished with all that basic stuff, which shakes up my plans somewhat, but meh. It can't be helped.
I`ll probably spend the rest of the week here in Cologne to recover some more before I return to Aachen to prepare for the other two exams. Then I'll be available for IM again too. |
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| Change and SCIENCE! |
[Jan. 21st, 2009|12:55 am] |
I'm glad I left the video stream on for the inaugural parade, because right at the end NASA showed off their Lunar Rover Concept. Fuckawesome, because you know... SCIENCE! XD
The speech was pretty good, from a non-american sort of perspective. The man certainly seemed to enjoy himself. I feel happy for him and his family. |
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| Waking nightmare |
[Jan. 4th, 2009|07:18 am] |
Tonight I slept from... maybe nine in the evening, to about half past two. The dream I had wasn't really mentionable, what I remember of it was about playing soccer on a muddy field. I started to wake up as reality began to seep into this dream world of mine, changing my dream location to a nondescript room, which slowly turned into my real room when my senses came back online -it's not easy to describe.
Anyway, I wasn't completely aware my surroundings yet, but conscious, when I started feeling that I couldn't move.
At some point I was almost completely awake, but still couldn't move at all. Well, nearly. I could move my eyelids with extreme difficulty and I might have been able to twitch around a bit, maybe bend a finger, but I was effectively paralyzed.
That was scary as hell. |
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| Suddenly it's 2009 |
[Jan. 3rd, 2009|04:40 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  hopeful | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | The White Stripes - The Air Near My Fingers | ] |
Dear friends! I hope you all made the switch into the new year well, whatever your preferred method of conduct for this occasion was, wether being with family, friends or alone, partying the ever living daylights out of the place or calmly watching that last second pass.
A lot of people expect this year to be a rather bad one, worse in any case than the last (and possibly a number of ones before it), some in specific more or less cleverly guessed economical figures, but more often in a general, overall fashion that I absolutely, utterly fail to understand. I think that's quite unfair towards 2009, we've only known it for 3 days.
I can think of quite some positive things to expect for this year. Just off the top of my head:
-Publishing of test results and review data for WB-7, the Polywell nuclear fusion device that was built to verify earlier tests and formulas developed by the late Dr. Bussard. Rumors are that the results are encouraging.
-Start of experiments at the LHC to detect elementary particles and learn about their interactions. What I love about this particular experiment is that they literally can't fail. Even if they detect nothing, that's quite a significant find if, by all theoretical means, there should be something.
-Currently expensive, but awesome technology such as high-powered LEDs and lithium-ion batteries will become both cheaper and better.
-Maiden flight of the privately built Falcon-9 space rocket, aside from heaps of other exciting space missions, like PLANCK which will map the cosmic microwave background to provide some clues as to how it all began.
-The Chevrolet Camaro and Volt. Rrrr.
-Guantanamo bay prison is supposed to be closed, hopefully sooner than later.
-Obama will take office, and we will have parliament elections. I may not like politics, but democracy is awesome.
Take care of yourselves, I'll be around.
Ah yes, for those wondering about my dead computer, my aunt gave me an old, barely-used P4. It wasn't particularly powerful even when new, but it beats anything I could have thrown together from spare parts and runs quite nicely under Linux. |
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| Murphy won |
[Dec. 15th, 2008|09:07 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | FH Aachen | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  hungry | ] |
Saturday my computer finally died.
Posting from an university machine now.
I don't want to bore you with a lot of details. It tended to crash with a "hardware failure" BSOD ever since I moved it to my current place in Aachen, so saturday I tested it with memtest68+ to see if maybe the memory was bad.
The test result was that the computer fried itself.
I took that as a subtle hint that it's something worse than just a bad memory module. It won't even boot, so the mainboard's probably toast. I suspect it got hit one too many times during transport.
I'm not sure if I'll be able to replace it anytime soon because right now, I'm barely scraping by with the money I have. I might try and see if I can put together some old pre-athlon rig for basic internet access after the holidays, but otherwise, I'll probably be stuck using computers at the FH and my mother's computer in Cologne for a while.
Take care. |
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