I’m outta here

After 48 hours of caffeine-induced mayhem, my last paper is done. It sucks (boy does it suck!) but it is done and turned in, which means that I am now technically on vacation. Yay! Time for Wii and booze. Maybe I’ll combine the two for a rip-roaring good time.

Looking back on this semester, I must say that I did a shitty job. I goofed off for 2 entire months, doing just the basics in order to get by. Looking ahead to next semester, I hope that I don’t fall into this same trap. I will say that I won’t be totally surprised if I do, but I will be disappointed. There are a few easy things I can do to make my life easier next semester, and the big thing is organization. At one point in my life, I was quite anal about school organization. I had my notebooks and folders color-coded, all my papers were in perfect date order, I sometimes would even calculate my grade before receiving my official grade from my teacher. I was on top of the school game, and now I suck at it. I’m going to try to remember what I did (I used binders, too! I love binders, even after my hellish experience with them at my last job) to keep on top of my work. With luck, at the end of next semester I’ll manage to sleep.

Here’s what I’ve got going on for the next couple of weeks:

• I’m getting a wisdom tooth out tomorrow. If that doesn’t scream “party” to you, then you haven’t truly lived.
• The wife, the dog, and I are making the trip to New England this Thursday to see family for the holidays by car. My puppy generally likes the car (he did very well the many times we drove between family this past Thanksgiving), though that does not mean that he’s going to dig it for 10 hours. We’re picking up my brother halfway through the trip in NYC and giving him puppy duty for the rest of the trip. His presence is sure to make the ride more odoriferous, if nothing else. Maybe we’ll make my wife drive while we play Mario Kart in the back seat.
• I’m going to play a lot of video games. On tap is: Zelda: Twilight Princess, Red Steel, and hopefully Madden 2007 and Call of Duty 3 for the Wii if Santa judges me nice this year. I’ve also got some DS games on my wish list, but to be honest I’m less excited about those, for now (I have to add this because if I don’t my wife won’t buy me any). There are a lot of great new games out for the DS, but the Wii is where the action is this winter; I’ve had it since three days post-launch and just haven’t had time to really devote to it. It makes me sad, which is why I can’t wait to really break it in over the next few weeks.
• My New Year’s this year will be spent in the Big Apple, the City that Never Sleeps (wait, is that LA, or Vegas, or Paris? I can’t remember), the Big Easy (that’s New Orleans, I know)… New York City! To be honest, I doubt that I will be out in the actual city that much. I plan on spending most of my few days there in my sister’s swinging Manhattan apartment (I knew there was I reason I kept talking to her all these years) playing video games with my brother while the girls go watch sissy dance performances or get their nails done or some such. Either that, or I will be completely wasted. I like booze.

That’s what I’ve got so far. There may be some golf at the beginning of January, but that’s still up in the air for now. This may be my last post for awhile. I recently bought a Nokia 770 so I can keep up with things (this begs the question: what things?) while I am gone, but I doubt that I’ll be writing many posts from the road. Expect some reports on my holidays around January 2nd or so. After that, I’m going to be vegging for awhile. I’m sure that I’ll write about this, too, but it’ll mostly be on the glog.So Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us! Actually, it’s just me, and I don’t like you. But just for now, let’s pretend I have a staff so that there is someone out there to wish you happy holidays, because I sure as hell am not.

Roughly 24 more hours

I cannot wait for this stupid semester to be over. I’ve got a lot to examine about my work and study habits (they were bad), but for now I just want to be done. I’ve been sleeping about 4 hours a night for the last week trying to get my last paper done (I’m so slow at writing now, as I said earlier), and it just doesn’t seem like it will ever end. My latest push to post more on my site hasn’t helped, of course. It does help in that it gets me writing instead of pursuing some a less intellectual activity to waste time.

Let’s see, let’s see. What else can I write about to avoid writing my paper? I could write about my paper. My paper is going to be on, if I ever fucking manage to get more than 2 pages written, Belarus and hopes that the country has for democratizing. My thesis, in short: not much. The president there is a crackpot dictator, and despite being a crackpot is really good at what he does (dictating?). President Lukashenko has destroyed what little civil society ever developed in Belarus and has minimized the effects of opposition politicians. He won the last presidential elections in March 2006 with 83% of the vote, and he claims that he cheated for the opposition and won more like 95%. While he is probably lying, the scary part is that he’s not lying by much. Either through popularity or scare tactics, he got a lot of people to cast their ballots for him. In short, he’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

The issue that I’m trying to tackle is how to get him out. Internally, the situation is bad: no opposition, no civil society, no free media. Furthermore, there’s no way we can go and pull an Iraq on a country in the middle of Europe and with such close ties to Russia. My thoughts about removing Lukashenko are geared more towards money. Everyone likes money (this is not my thesis, just a thought, and an accurate one at that based on personal experience). If we could get Belorussians to have more money, they may change their minds about how great Lukashenko is. It’s a long shot, I know, but I can’t think of much else. Even violent overthrow from within won’t work: the opposition tried that after the clearly influenced (if not fraudulent) March elections. They drummed up all of 20,000 supporters (compare this with close to a million in Ukraine during the Orange Revolution in 2004) in the central square of Minsk. They had a depressing tent party, then got arrested. Lukashenko has seen autocrats overthrown too many times, and there is just no way that he’s going to let the same happen to him. This is part of an interesting theory by Vitali Silitski (a Belorussian expatriate and professor) that calls the Lukashenko regime “preemptive autocracy”. (Silitski, Vitali. “Preempting Democracy: The Case of Belarus.” Journal of Democracy; Vol. 16, Number 4; Oct. 2005.) Every time the opposition, or anyone for that matter, gets an idea about how to get a foothold, Lukashenko knocks it away before they can get it.

That’s basically my paper. There’s a lot more research behind it, but that’s the bare bones. I’m actually really interested in the topic. Belarus is a weird Soviet throwback state and has been very resistant to reforms that have swept every single one of its neighbors (even Russia, though many of the democratic reforms of the 1990s are being turned back now under Putin). So why hasn’t it too gone all Euro? The main reason is that Russia doesn’t want it to change. Russia looks bad now vis-a-vis progress on democracy; it would look worse if it was the only authoritarian government in Europe.

This has actually been a very useful exercise. I may have to do this with more homework that I have in the future. I’ll spare you the economics (sometimes, remember, I don’t like you very much), but everything else is fair game.

Xubuntu

After my brief rant about Ubuntu that amounted to a minor complaint about my own bizarre personality, I ran into a real problem. My iBook has a finicky power input; if the adapter is not precisely in the correct place, the computer doesn’t think that it is plugged in. Overnight last night, I left my computer on and the adapter was not happy about its position. Thus, the battery died. I charged the battery, but when I next booted my iBook and logged in to the Gnome window manager, I got a string of crazy messages about stuff not loading correctly, including the file browser. Being a complete noob to Linux, I decided to simply reinstall. I don’t keep anything on the computer permanently, anyway. Instead of reinstalling with Gnome, I decided to go lightweight and run Xubuntu. This is the same kernel and GNU programs as Ubuntu except it uses the less-intensive Xfce window manager. I’ve used Xubuntu before and admit that I like the simplicity of the window manager and certainly feel a speed boost over KDE and Gnome. I’m having some trouble with the menu editor (it won’t fulfill its primary function; I can’t edit any menus), but it’s nothing much. Could have something to do with using a beta version of Xfce. I used the Gnome version of Ubuntu because it’s the mainstream version and I had hoped that it would be able to handle my wireless network (as you can see from my last post, it didn’t). It couldn’t, so now I’m back to using Xfce, and I am glad for the speed it gives to my little computer.

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Tonight is the first night of Chanukkah. My wife is Jewish (I figured that if I can’t be a chosen one, I can at least marry into the elite group) and complains that I never get her anything for Chanukkah. She’s right, of course, I don’t. I’m just no good at holidays. I never shop ahead of time and rely on my sister for most, if not all, gifts for my family (I pay her back, taking my sweet time to piss her off). Adding a new holiday to my already long list of holidays to remember and plan for (the party for Arbor Day alone takes me a week to plan) is begging for me to forget it. This year, however, I’m going to go shopping and get her something to surprise her. I’m not sure what I’m going to get her yet, but it’ll be something. Not nothing like usual.Update: I got her a workout suit (something she wanted). I had two other great ideas (not going to spill what they are here in case my wife reads this, though I doubt that she does), but was thwarted on both fronts by the hell that is retail shopping. All future gifts will be purchased at Amazon.

Further update: As a gift for the second day of Chanukkah, I got my wife a book and a humidifier filter. She cried over the filter. She just loves humidity that much.

A very real sort of lazy

I am so bad at writing papers. In my defense, I feel that I once was pretty good. During my senior year as an undergraduate, I took some serious classes that involved quite a bit of writing, and I managed to get decent papers done on time for them. In the 4 years since I graduated I have lost all skill at this. I just can’t get going until the last minute on any paper these days. The last one that I had due a couple of weeks ago I didn’t finish until about 2 hours before class. I’ve got my last one due Monday, and I’m only a page or so into it. I need more motivation. Thankfully, they sell that in liquid form these days: go go Diet Sunkist!

Ubuntu Frustrations

I have a couple of computers on which I work. One of them is an old G3 iBook. It was running OS X Jaguar before I got my new main computer, but it was so slow that I decided to try some other operating systems. The first one I tried was OS 9. OS 9 sucks, though there are many who disagree (I disagreed for a long time). The greatest problem is that it crashes fairly consistently, or at least it does on my machine. OS 9 crashes are not at all like the friendly OS X crashes of today. We’re talking freezes that require hard reboots and sometimes caused the dreaded “question-mark folder” on startup (a signal of doom, meaning the computer can’t find a proper startup disk). The other major problem with OS 9 is lack of software. While there is some software for OS 9, there is none (for practical purposes) actively in development. This sticks OS 9 users with dated software that has no hope of ever being updated. The core of the OS is dated as well: for example, it uses version 1.3 of the Java virtual machine. This is so dated as to be useless. If I new more about operating systems (I know nothing), I could probably make a more comprehensive list of what OS 9 does wrong (preemptive multi-tasking? I feel as if I’ve heard that phrase thrown around a lot regarding either OS 9 or OS X. Makes me sound smart, though.). So although it ran quite quickly on my old iBook, that wasn’t enough to counter the major problems I encountered.

My next and final (I’m lazy) stop was Linux. I browsed the various distros and settled on Ubuntu. It was tagged as the most new-user-friendly brand of Linux, is based on the solid and popular Debian, and it ran on my G3-based laptop. I first installed Ubuntu about a year ago, when I think the version was at Breezy Badger (they have a kooky naming convention over there; Linux users are weird). We are now at Edgy Eft (2 versions later), and I have one concern that has dogged me throughout these releases: I cannot connect to my wireless network. I love Ubuntu in every other way. It is very easy to use and install (I love computers, but am assuredly a novice when it comes to most of their functions; I don’t even fully understand hexadecimal numbers, for Pete’s sake!), has wonderful, modern features that are continually in development, and runs quite briskly on my old hardware (OpenOffice runs faster on my old iBook than on my newer G4 Mac mini). The only sticking point has been wireless connectivity. Granted, I don’t have the easiest setup (cable modem to Ethernet/phone router to wireless router) and I’m using an old USB wireless dongle. I also haven’t asked for any help from the experts on the Ubuntu forums. I also have sort of diagnosed the problem and could fix it by making a slight change to my wireless network (I think the problem is the WEP password; if I disabled WEP security it might work). The more I think about it, Ubuntu hasn’t really frustrated me; I’ve frustrated me (and probably frustrated Ubuntu, were it capable of feelings) by trying to force Ubuntu to work within a very specific setup and being a stubborn jackass who must figure out everything by himself. Regardless, I wish that wireless networking were easier in Ubuntu. I also wish I weren’t so obsessive, but let’s blame the software. It makes me feel better about myself.

Furthermore, it is often the case that not having an active Internet connection is better in terms of my productivity. It annoys me that I can’t look up something quickly when I need to when on my iBook (like I am now, and I can’t look up the correct web address for Ubuntu, so I’ll have to correct it later when I actually post this), but I do get much more actual work done on my iBook than I do on my main computer (“work” is best defined as not reading Penny Arcade archives or browsing World of Warcraft forums; it’s anything that results in product, even if that product isn’t something that absolutely had to be produced, like anything on my website). I can transfer data easily enough from one computer to another, and the Internet is only one floor away if I really need it (sometimes less; my wife’s computer is often right next to where I work when not at my main computer). Oh, and it’s not like the Internet doesn’t work at all on my iBook, either. Plugging in an Ethernet cable gets me online right away.

When it comes down to it, this entire story is more a good story describing how anal I am about getting things to work than it is any sort of criticism of Ubuntu. I love Ubuntu. I’ve used it for basic computing through several versions and have used various window managers (first Gnome, then KDE, then XFCE, and am now trying Gnome again) and have found it to be easy to learn and modify and full of programs that I love (you’ve heard it from me before, but Vim is the greatest thing that has ever happened to mankind). I guess I just need to relax. Or bitch about Linux being a poor desktop alternative to Mac OS X or Windows because of the difficulty of finding peripherals that work with it. The former is far more rational, but rationality is not my strong point.

Christmas

I love Christmas. I’m not and have never been terribly religious, and am not experiencing any epiphany now nor expect one soon. I hate shopping, hate the pressure of finding gifts for impossible recipients (name something my sister doesn’t have to win $100!), hate all the goodwill towards men crap (I wish nothing but ill will towards everyone, humbug), and hate you (this doesn’t have anything to do with Christmas, but I need a final item for this list). So what’s so great about Christmas? It’s because the few people that I do like get together. I may do my best to sound like a sociopath and a complete jerk, but there are some people with whom I get along and that, unfortunately, I don’t get to see all that much. Even more than simply the opportunity to see everyone I like, it is the focus of Christmas on family and friends that I like so much.

I’m getting all mushy like this because I’m listening to Christmas carols, sitting next to my wife with a puppy in my lap after our trimming our little Christmas tree. It’s Johny Mathis singing the Christmas carols, which is my mother’s favorite collection of the cheesy tunes. I have a lot of positive associations with this season and these overplayed songs, some of the best memories of my life, in fact. This is why I like Christmas: I am close to the one’s I love and get to be nostalgic for some happy days I’ve had. It’s uber-sappy, I know, but take it while you can. I’m not full of such sentiment at any other time of the year.

A specific type of lazy

I wrote a lot right after my latest post, but then never got around to putting this content up on the site. The main reason for this is that I’m a lazy cuss, in a way. In a way I’m not, because I actually took the time to write stuff, and on my phone’s tiny keyboard (I have a Nokia 6820) while commuting, which makes me sick to my stomach (I get motion sickness very easily), no less. Nevertheless, none of it is seeing the light of the Internet until now. Most of it is ridiculously dated, but I’ll throw it up anyway, at least the gaming stuff. Some of what I wrote I won’t post because it’s boring, poorly written, and I can’t edit it because the events happened so long ago. Anyway, here’s what I got.

I also have some new stuff to post, mainly an update on “Wiimpressions.” I make this update because I am the proud owner of a Wii and have moved from my loose Wiimpressions to Wiimpressed. I called my Gamecube Bill; I need to anthropomorphize my latest console as well. Given the weird name, I was thinking to give it an equally bizarre name: how about Fred? Bill and Fred. Bill served me well, but this is the year of Fred. Read more in the glog.

In other news, don’t expect many more posts in the next couple of weeks (as if you actually expect much of anything, given the infrequency of my posts lately, furthermore “you” doesn’t really exist, as I doubt I have actual readers). I’m a huge slacker and didn’t get any of my schoolwork done ahead of time, despite that most of my time was unstructured and free. So I should be working a lot. If “you” start to see more regular posts, God forbid in the glog section, then you know I’ve fallen off the wagon and am not actually working. For the sake of my GPA, I hope not to post anything until closer to Christmas.

Wiimpressed

I love my Wii. I managed to score one through my contacts within a secret society with strong ties to retail sales (my mother works for BJ’s Wholesale Club and snagged me a Wii the second one came through the door). I must say, my worries about the system being gimmicky were removed the second I booted up Wii Sports. It was fun to play, a lot of fun to play, and this the game that comes with the system and is advertised more as a tech demo than a full-featured game. At the risk of sounding like a Nintendo ad, the control system makes playing what would otherwise be a crappy simulation of six sport games into a great deal of fun. I admit that the controls aren’t perfect (disclaimer: they may be perfect, I could just suck) and gamers will find that they take getting used to. But it is just cool that you swing your arm to control a miniature version of yourself (you can make an Wii-based avatar called a Mii) missing shot after shot in tennis. The true test of the console, however, is to see if this fascination with motion and light sensing will wear thin. I am quite sure that it will not, because even now I can bowl or box for hours and still have fun.

I can understand how hardcore gamers may be turned off by the Wii. The target market, as stated by Nintendo, is not hardcore gamers. Nintendo wants to attract people who do not usually play games. If the success of the DS has taught us anything, Nintendo will most likely meet this goal. But it must be kept in mind that while expanding into new markets is great, there is already a rather large market of gamers. Losing this market to gain another may not be the best decision. I believe that gamers of all types will still flock to the Wii. The reason that some hardcore gamers have written the Wii off as a party-only device has more to do with the launch lineup of games than the system itself. The Wii has no online functionality, meaning that people who want 16-man fragfests are left out, at least for the time being. Nintendo is promising online gaming for the Wii by 2007. Graphics is the other problem with the Wii. The other next-gen systems support HD (the PS3 supports 1080p); the best the Wii can do is 480p. Because many hardcore gamers are also hardcore videophiles, they are disappointed by this. I was of the camp that graphics don’t matter if the game is fun until I recently got a 37″ Sharp Aquos as a wedding gift. HD doesn’t just look good, it looks very good. I still believe that fun trumps graphics for ultimate gameplay experience, but many gamers will disagree with me, and I understand their point.

In short, my experience with the Wii have made me a believer in the capability of the system for fun. There is a lot that can still be done with the control scheme: I look forward to a variety of first-person shooters and sports games, and while some of them won’t be great (Red Steel hasn’t received the best of reviews), many will. Metroid Prime 3 is bound to be amazing, as are the rest of Nintendo’s franchises. There is a lot the Wii can do, and we’ll see lots of great games for everyone in the future.