5/26/2008 5:46 PM - I've been gaming a little more than usual recently, and started thinking about my favorite games of all time. So here's the list:

Deus Ex
Baldur's Gate 2
Team Fortress Classic
Team Fortress 2
Counter-Strike: Source
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Age of Empires 2
Oblivion
Hitman: Blood Money
Super Mario World
Portal
Perfect Dark
Goldeneye 007
Opera mod for Half-Life
Super Mario RPG
Final Fantasy VI
Chrono Trigger
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

I recently switched operating systems (if you don't know what an operating system is - it's what Microsoft Windows is). I've been using Ubuntu 8.04 for a little over a week now and am very happy with it. It's fairly stable and runs well, even with a lot of programs installed. Additionally, it seems to have survived some weird configuration things that I have done. On Windows, those things would have meant a System Restore, but not so with Linux (so far). My main issues thus far have been getting my dual monitors to function properly, vmware (virtualization software - running another OS on top of Ubuntu), and some odd issues with sound. For some reason, Linux does not seem to like dual monitors. Figuring out the configuration problem was fairly time consuming. I'll be lenient on VMWare because this version of Ubuntu is brand new, and VMWare will probably release a working version soon. The strangest problem is that I can't put the sound up to the maximum volume without the sound being tinny. Apparently you need to set it at 75% or less. Go figure. I haven't tried gaming on Ubuntu yet, and will probably not try - I left a copy of Windows on my hard drive for gaming :) My overall experience with Ubuntu has been positive, though I would not recommend it for the typical desktop user because it required me to configure too many things with the command line. In fact my installation wouldn't work until I added a specific command line setting. The installation of an operating system should be easy in my opinion. Believe it or not, Windows installed flawlessly, while Ubuntu messed up my Windows installation. Essentially, Ubuntu changed the name of where Windows would look for itself on the hard drive. To fix this, I used the Windows recovery command line to tell Windows its new name. In other news, I went to the Duke gardens today for the first time. At one point, I realized that I had stepped on a patch of clovers on the ground, and for some reason, felt that I had stepped on a four leaf clover. Believe it or not, I found a four-leaf clover - must be my lucky day :) I had never seen one in person before, so that was neat. I also got lost in the gardens and found a plaque marking the 37th or 39th parallel. That's all for now.

I can't believe it's summer already. Time is really flying quickly! Anyways, I've already had finals, gone home, and come back for the first summer session. I may have mentioned previously that I was going to take two classes this summer. That is not the case however. About a month ago my analog circuits class was canceled. The second class, comp sci algorithms, was canceled last Monday, 48 hours before the first day of classes! I was fairly angry about that because I had planned my summer around taking a summer class. Thankfully, I was able to find another class to take (financial accounting). I'm really enjoying the class thus far - it's interesting to understand what it is that my dad does for a living (fyi he's a CPA). Another bit of news for my loyal readers - I know there must be a couple of you out there - I'm living in the Duke Smart Home during summer session (http://smarthome.duke.edu). For those of you not familiar with it, Smart Home is a high-tech dorm designed by students that incorporates the latest+greatest technologies, including a bunch of environmentally friendly appliances, etc. I love all of the ridiculous excesses in the house. For example, the media room has not one, but three large flat panel displays lined up on a wall with two leather sofas across from them. Additionally, the fridge has a hdtv on it - with cable! Also, every dorm room has a fiber optic internet connection. For those of you less technically inclined, fiber optic = really, really fast internet connection. According to the head of smart home, each fiber optic cable could route ALL of the bandwidth for Duke University! Suffice to say, I'm enjoying the fast internet, though not too many sites can match my connection speed, so it's more of a bragging right than anything else :) The only things I dislike about the Smart Home are that it can be a little noisy and it's really bright in the morning. I can hear my neighbors next door sometimes. It's not that they're noisy, it's just that the walls are thin. Perhaps there could be a noise cancellation project. Yesterday, I was even able to hear people from downstairs (I live on the second floor) while I was in my bed, which probably should not be possible considering I've never encountered that issue in any of the other dorms that I've lived in at Duke. Also, there are some windows in the bedroom that have no shades, and there is no possible way to put shades on them. The Smart Home was designed to be really energy efficient, and part of this design was the orientation of the house with respect to the sun, and the locations of the windows. Everything is arranged such that the house does not really need lighting during the day. At 7 am, my bedroom is completely bright, which is rather bothersome considering I like to wake up late :) I think a cool solution to this problem would be to install special glass that can polarize itself (turn completely black) in these windows. There was actually a Smart Home project at one time that was considering using these special windows. A simpler solution (aside from installing regular blinds) could be to have two pieces of regular polarized glass that are implanted in the walls and move up/down like car windows and function as shades. That would be fairly nifty in my opinion.

Four months. Wow. Anyways, I'm back from my fairly long hiatus. Today I was reading Slashdot.org, and read an article (http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/04/06/1916242) about the cancellation of the AP Computer Science AB exam. I am very disappointed to see this. The other computer science exam, CS A, is a stupid test compared to AB. This is big step down in my opinion. The A test does not cover many important topics that are in the AB exam. Also, it was a class on the AB exam that made me really interested in computer science in the first place (fyi: computer science is my second major). I have not had a computer science class that was as good since then. I feel that College Board is hurting students who really want to gain a good foundation in computer science.

Since my last update, I've done quite a lot of things. Notably, I unexpectedly made the varsity fencing travel team, and had a blast traveling with the team. I even made the regional tournament, though didn't make it to the NCAAs. This season was definitely one of my highlights of Duke thus far. I can't wait for next season.

Yesterday I played in the annual inter-engineering major softball game. Despite the rain, it was a lot of fun. I had forgotten how much I enjoy baseball/softball.

This past semester I've really gotten into computer architecture. It's definitely my favorite subject at the moment. Currently, we're designing a 5-stage pipelined MIPS processor, which is really neat. Next semester, I'm taking Advanced Computer Architecture I and Fault Tolerant and Testable Computing Systems, which will be really awesome. I know the latter class will be great because the professor is great. I'm also taking signals/systems and drawing (will finish my liberal arts requirement).

Also, I've started watching Lost this semester. My roommate watched the entire first season in around 28 hours - an impressive feat. I was subsequently sucked into it. I definitely recommend that you watch this show. Also, one of the recurring songs, Make Your Own Kind of Music by Mama Cass Elliot (of the Mamas and the Papas), is a fantastic song - I'm listening to it right now in case you were wondering why I'm mentioning it.

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Good afternoon there fellow livejournalers.
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I hate waking up early. It's such a killer. Anyways we had our team picture today. I actually felt awake then for some reason, but I started to feel the effects of my lack of sleep during engineering lecture which was about CHAOS today. CHAOS is cool. Something even cooler: we don't have to hand anything in for this lab :) Yesterday I went to Techconnect, which is a recruiting event for various tech-related companies (ie. microsoft). Apparently it was a formal affair (business casual so I heard)..and I was grossly under-dressed. It was a bit embarrassing. Oh well. I had just come from practice and wasn't giving my resume to anyone :d They had a question/answer session for an hour with reprsentatives from eight companies or so. All were dressed in suits except the Microsoft guy :d He looked and acted like a typical microsoft guy. It was amusing. The guy representing exxon-mobile introduced himself as being from a small oil company xD. Today I went to carreer day after classes. There were a lot of companies there. I only spoke with an IBM guy. Apparently it is possible for freshmen to get summer internships there. Hmmm. I got a free mechanical pencil from them :) I have my second Smart House meeting today after practice. Hopefully we'll get to play around with some hardware/software today! I'm tired right now. I need to get a lot of work done this week so I can dedicate this weekend to Chemistry (I have a test on Monday). I'm trying to remember some cool stuff from the past couple of days, but I just can't think of it right now...arghhh. Oh yeah, speaking of Arrgh it was speak like a pirate day yesterday. Just in case you didn't know xD. By the way, smoothies are really good, and Matlab is not very good. Time for practice. Later.

Tired.

But not too tired to type this: http://www.davideitel.com :)

I'm going to keep it brief tonight/this morning because I am tired. Number 1: Do not procrastinate on math 103. It will always take 2 hours longer than I think it will. Number 2: Chemistry was awesome today. Doctor Lyle did like 5 minutes of straight demos in the beginning. My favorite was when he pressure cooked a styrofoam cup. That was really cool. It shrunk down to a miniature size! It was the size of a toy cup. Literally a "mini-me" cup. He also put balloons in liquid nitrogen. Gotta love liquid nitrogen. That stuff is just absolutely amazing. We had an NCAA meeting today before practice. Apparently we cannot accept gifts from people. Like people really give fencers free stuff :d Apparently a certain concentration of caffeine is illegal according to the NCAA. They gave us a whole list of banned substances. One section is labeled "street drugs." That is amusing. Okay. Time to finish up calc and sleep finally :) G'night!

Me: "why" MATLAB: "Some not excessively rich young and smart hamster obeyed some rich and not very good and good and bald kid." HAHA I don't believe a computer program (MATLAB is a math computer program - I use it for my engineering class) just said that to me. Unbelievable.

*Update* Damn I'm on a roll with these things. That is not a buttered roll btw. That was a terrible joke. The kind where one cringes and feels embarrassed for the teller of said joke. Alas, it has been said I do not feel like hitting backspace or typing /b as Dr. G would do.

free scone or muffin if you click - http://www.davideitel.com

I do not think I have commented on Pluto losing it's planet status yet. I'm going to quote the Foxtrot comic (in the Chronicle a couple of days ago): "Where were the Plutonian astronomers?! Shouldn't they have a voice in something like this?! / Taxonation without Representation I say!" That comic tickled my fancy. Foxtrot is always good. It's nice to be able to read it daily now - it's not in the daily newspaper in NY. I think it is kind of silly that Pluto is no longer a planet - I think it is technically a number now and no longer "Pluto." One would think that astronomers would have something better to do than changing classifications of planets. It probably should not be a planet, based on the definition of planet (which is loose as it is), but to demote Pluto to a number is a bit drastic in my opinion. I had fencing practice this morning. Twas nothing too exciting - just working the upper body. My upper arm strength is definitely lacking. Today was the first chem lecture where there was no cool demo by Doctor Lyle (the demo guy). Incidentally I saw him when I got breakfast at MacDonald's after practice. Go figure. It is also notable that there is a facebook stating he is the only reason the members of the group go to chem lecture. It's soooooo true too. Attendance has been falling that class ever so slowly. I was stuck in that building for like 3 or 4 hours today because I had lab in addition to lecture. The lab is really ridiculous - we have to hand write it on carbon paper. We have to explain some simple calculations and how we figured out the density/percent mass sugar of a solution and some other stuff of partial or no interest. Somewhat off-topic, I think the urinals in the Gross Chem building deserve discussion. They're Friggin huge - like a toilet bowl! I've never seen anything like them. They look like leftover toilet bowls bolted to the wall. They're really awkward to use too. Okay, that was bizarre, but definitely worth pointing out to all of my readers. If you're a guy and have been in Gross chem, you'll understand. After that I went to the first Engineering Social of the year. It was okay - they had some free food, drinks, and of course, the only reason why most people went, free TSHIRTS! I was kind of surprised to see that they had a keg there, but the more I think about Duke and its relationship with alcohol, I really should not have been surprised. By the way, I went out tonight to a party..I'm not really sure why I did it - I suppose I was convinced by my hallmates. It was a waste of time. If you do not like alcohol, very loud music, and tight spaces full of people all combined into one, then there really is not too much for you at a party like this one. After the engineering social I went to a fencing team dinner cooked by none less than the captain himself. It was a lot of fun. The guys on the team are hilarious. I can't wait until the season starts picking up a bit. We also played a little Mario Kart - N64 version that is. It reminded me of my days in Calc BC at the end of the year. That is such a good game. Random fact of the day: I had a smoothie today. And it was good. Quite good. Now for a technical note relating to this website. My news section is becoming huge. I'm updating more often and making larger updates. This is causing the news file to balloon in size. I think it loads like all 20k words that make up this section. I think this probably slows down some users. Anyways I am going to try to create a database some time and migrate my news section there some time in the future. Hopefully in the next six months. Something I forgot to mention before - The Chronicle has some interesting articles to say the least. Beer pong entrepreneurs made the front page today. Time for shower/sleep. 'Night Y'all!

5 reasons to procrastinate. Not hex..err six.
Actually, make my website number six -> http://www.davideitel.com


Today has been a very engineeringcentric day. My afternoon and evening have been filled with an ECE icecream social, Engineering 10, a robotics club meeting/dinner (free pizza!), and a Smart House team meeting. I have been really busy. I was late to the icecream social, but I still got to meet some people. I spoke with this awesome professor who works with DNA to create nanostructures. That is just absolutely amazing. I'm going to read some of his papers and maybe try to work in his lab or something if I find the papers really amazing. The icecream was good if you are wondering :-D EGR 10 directly followed that. Today was just an okay lecture about mechanical engineering - just an overview of the department. I thought the robotics club meeting was tomorrow, so I was really surprised to learn that it was today and they were serving pizza! Yay! Robotics club is quite cool. I signed up for the autonomous ground vehicle project, though I'm not sure if I am going to stay with that particular project. Apparently the robotics club is obtaining a 10ft helicopter from a sponsor, and they plan on making it autonomous. That sounds really awesome to me. I wanted to do something like that this past summer, though on a smaller scale. I think it would be cool if we were able to compete in the Robocup (soccer world cup for robots) with bipedal robots. Everyone seems open-minded to new ideas/projects, so perhaps I'll get to do something else. Next I had the smart house team meeting. My team is the Wisdom Doorway team. If you didn't read yesterday, we pretty much are going to develop a way in which to sense who is walking through a door at a given time by measuring an individual's weight, height, girth, etc. and trying to match the measurements to a known individual. It's a weak form of biometrics. Apparently we have access to a LOT of RFID tags :) Hehehe that will be fun. I learned that the computer coding for this project is in Java and C! Maybe I will actually be able to be useful lol. With all of this stuff going on this afternoon, I did not have time to go to fencing practice. I did pick up my free stuff from the equipment room before the ECE social however. They gave me a shirt, a towel, one pair of socks, and are going to give me shorts at a later time. I also have a "loop" on which I am supposed to put my dirty laundry and they'll do it for me if it is on the loop! Awesomeness. We also watched Bride of Frankenstein in Monsters in Lit and film today. It is a good movie - better than the first one. I definitely enjoyed it. I also received my English paper back. I've never seen anything so marked up before in my life. However, apparently I had some good ideas that I could incorporate into my thesis paper (AKA the Big Monster of a paper that is due in a month) according to the professor. I'm glad that my ideas are of thesis caliber lol. I also received my math homework back. Yay for perfect scores. Not that homework means anything in that class. Pretty much my grade depends upon how I do on the final exam. Nothing else really matters too much. Of course the tests are important, but the final is the main component of my grade. Kind of a bummer if you ask me. Okay now for a very important topic - pentagons. Why would someone make a pentagon shaped key? It baffles me. Perhaps it does not exist and is a figment of my imagination because the apparent owner of said key denied it's existence...or rather its lock's existence. It's all kind of bizarre to me haha. Most people who read this are going to be like WTF? And I probably will the same reaction if I read this. For any of you guys and gals out there who are trying to picture this key, imagine an alan wrench (aka inside hex) except with 5 sides instead of 6. Wild stuff indeed. This has felt like a really busy week. I can't wait until the weekend! Time for sleep now - early morning practice arghhhhh. Later dudes and dudettes or should that be dudettes and dudes? I do not know. Bye!

Good evening y'all. Enjoy the update.

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SILVER CHRISTMAS TREES! No, I am not tripping on acid right now. I am of course referring to Chemistry. Today was a particularly memorable class. A copper Christmas tree was placed in a beaker of Silver Nitrate as an example of a redox reaction. The silver crystallized on the copper tree, while some of the copper was displaced into the silver nitrate solution, turning the solution blueish green. It was a really neat demo. Also, THERMITE! That stuff is just plain awesome. Nuff said. You have to see it, err not look directly at it because it actually can burn your retinas. Thermite is so amazing. It can burn through lots of things. Today it burned through a pot. I saw a video online where it went through a car engine! Crazy stuff. When discussing metal displacement reactions, the professor said that "putting potassium is even worse...err better!" than putting Sodium in water. Hehehe that was excellent. Also he related the rise and fall of the Roman empire to the lead piping that was used in Ancient Rome. Apparently lead piping is not bad if the water going through the piping is pure. However it if it slightly acidic, there could be a problem. "If you use lead solder to connect your pipes in your house, then you will see the rise and fall of you!" This guy was on a roll today. Another note of interest - I have yet to discuss the Chem Building here at Duke. It is a concrete juggernaut of a building. It goes by the name "Gross" (I am not kidding). I have never seen a sign that actually says what building it is near the actual building. On the first day of classes there was a little printed sign that said gross chem. However, this concrete monster had no markings/writing to indicate the grossness of chemistry. The chem lecture room is retro. It's rather large - I think it holds around 250 people. There is an old school periodic table that lights up - each element has a light bulb behind it that can be controlled from the lab counter. The chairs are really old too. There is a wooden thing that pops out of the sides of the seats that functions as a writing surface. The chem labs are in a bizarre location upstairs. There are no windows per se in the hallway where the labs are. Instead there are long slits of glass that allow one to barely view the wonderful outside weather. The lab itself is really oldschool. It looks like a chem lab that you would see in an old 60s movie. Okay enough chem for now. By the way, it was raining badly today, which was quite annoying. Lucky for me that I always leave my umbrella in my backpack :) I've been gimping around today because of soreness from fencing practices. Practice was cool today. We played basketball (such a Duke thing to do). It was a lot of fun. It's really funny that a lot of us are terrible at basketball - especially the freshmen and sophomores. Some of the games were hilarious. We played one game with half the team vs. the other half. The other games were three vs. three. Overall it was enjoyable. I don't think I am going to be able to go to practice tomorrow. I have a busy afternoon. Oh yeah, I have my first smart house meeting tomorrow. I don't know if I wrote it already, but I am in the WISDOM Door team for smarthouse. From skimming the documents, apparently the goal of the team is to design a biometric technology based on mass and maybe other physical attributes for doors in the smart house. I went to a DAGGER meeting today (that is the gaming organization on campus). It was cool, though a little geeky :-d They were mainly playing board games today. I played only one game because I wanted to get back to East - it was late by then. Again, I keep on meeting cool people during my meals. Okay, I want to go to sleep. I was practically falling asleep in the engineering lab today, which was short. THAT was very nice. Oh yes, it is worth noting that my previous entry is over 1100 words - that is longer than my recent English paper - I think in fact that it is my longest entry thus far. Perhaps I'll break my record again some time soon. Time for bed now. Good night! And as written on my whiteboard, "Don't hate, now, y'all!"