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5.31.2002
I'm a queen? I don't know if I like that.


which Episode II character are you?


Queen of Naboo. You could have a split personality - simply to hide who you really are. You are extremely polite and gentle. However, if needs be, you will take action and can be a very good leader. You have the power to make people believe in you - use this power. The one you love could also end up being the one you hate.


I really need to add a comments feature on this site.

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5.27.2002
It's always interesting when you find out people you don't really know read (or at least have read) your website. We were at Derek's party on Friday night, and I happened to be talking to someone about that suicide on the Beltline previously mentioned here. After talking for a few seconds, he stops me and says "do you have a weblog?" Turns out he had read about it here. He's a local morning show DJ, and apparently after I had e-mailed him about something on the air he decided to go poke around my website. Kinda funny.

This weekend is Bratfest in Madison. What a crock that is. Last night we decided to head over there to get a cheap dinner. We arrived at about 6:15, but when we went to order, we were told that they stopped serving at 6. Now, think about this people. Does that make ANY sense? Why would you close such an event right at dinner time? I urge everyone to go to their site and register your displeasure with this insane policy. It seems as if the web form on their crap ass site doesn't even work, so you'll have to use the e-mail address listed there.

In other news, we went on another bike ride yesterday. Amy had to quit halfway due to her knee, but the rest of us went about 11.5 miles. Not too bad. Although, it was windy as all hell, and for the first half of the trip it was right in our faces - not fun.

Nothing much planned for this Memorial Day. I guess we're invited to the Sr. Rupperts' for some type of get together. Free food is always good.

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5.22.2002
Got my Spanish grade. No problems there. That's everything - now I just wait for them to send me my diploma.

[sigh of relief]

I think I feel a bit more like a graduate now. Just a little, though.

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It turns out I did much better in my second CS class than I thought I would. Needless to say I breathed a large sigh of relief when I saw my grade. As such, the only thing I'm waiting on now in terms of being officially graduated is Spanish, and I don't think that should be a problem.

Perhaps in the coming days I'll add a comments feature to this site, similar to how I set it up for Amy's site.

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5.20.2002
In the car this morning I realized it's been about 4 years since I got my first CD burner. Zach had gotten one a few months prior, and I remember thinking "why are you wasting your money on that?" Of course, it didn't take too long to see they were nifty, and I ended up getting one after the school year ended. I got the last laugh, though - Zach ended up selling his original model and getting the same one I had gotten.

At any rate, it's amazing how far we've come since then. At the time burners weren't quite the luxury they had been a few years before, but they were still something mainly for computer geeks. I was lucky to get blank CDs for less than a dollar each. Today everybody and their brother has a burner and blanks are something like 20 cents each.

On a different note, while driving on the beltline on Saturday, we noticed somebody standing on the shoulder (only a few feet from traffic), with a cop not far away. We didn't know what to make of things, but the situation didn't seem out of hand or anything. Well, this comes from the Monona Police Department's website:

Case # 2002-03484: On 05-18-2002 at about 3:13pm an officer was sent to US12& 18 after motorists reported a man walking in traffic. When the officer arrived he attempted to get the suspect to remove himself from the highway. The suspect ignored the officer and then intentionally ran into the highway and lay down in front of an oncoming semi-truck. The suspect was killed instantly. The highway was closed for several hours for investigative purposes.


A story on madison.com noted that the man laid down less than a minute after the cop got there. No doubt I would have seen it if I had kept looking in my rear view mirror.

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5.19.2002
Well, here it is, one day after graduation. People like to ask me (and other graduates, I'd assume) "so, do you feel any different?!" Well, not really. Not yet anyway. Perhaps things still need to digest a bit. We'll see.

Surprisingly (or maybe not), I don't have much else to report. I had figured this weekend would be some type of drunken orgy, but it has been anything but. A couple of drinks here and there and that's it. Maybe if I get the energy I'll bike around the lake today.

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5.15.2002
Oh yeah - I got a 93 on that CS final the other day and an AB in the class. Perhaps things are looking up.

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Two finals down, two to go. My Poly Sci final was pretty much a joke, but hey, what else is new? I managed to get an A+ on my environmental studies paper and an A in the class - two credits of not much. In a couple of hours I have my other CS class, then Spanish tomorrow. Then I'm D-O-N-E. Then I'll actually have time to do stuff like burn CDs for people and work on my website. Until I get a job, that is.

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5.12.2002
I just took my first final of the semester, which was in the same class I got the 100 on the project in. I think it went fairly well. I had to skip some questions and come back to them, but in the end I think I knew what I was doing for every question. Now three more finals to go.

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5.10.2002
So, I got a 100 on that last CS project. Needless to say I'm quite happy. Now just to finish up a few small things and then finals.

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5.09.2002
Less than an hour ago I turned in what should be my last computer science project at the University of Wisconsin. I'm quite happy. Now just a few more things to take care of and some exams and...who knows.

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5.08.2002
I just turned in my last project for one of my CS classes. Once I finish up the last program for my other class tomorrow with my partner, I should be all set. Surprisingly the program I did today went very well. I'm glad. It doesn't seem like school can almost be over with.

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For those of you who were at the grill-out the other day (I apoligize for those burgers) - the package on those frozen patties says 7.5 minutes per side. Well, turns out it's more like 7.5 minutes total. Go figure. They taste a lot better that way...

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5.05.2002
Some people have said that I get stuck in ruts. Ok, maybe I do have my little patterns. I was just about to write "Gee, the end of yet another weekend" thinking it would be something different, when I noticed that's what I wrote a week ago. So much for fresh.

Just about all of Friday afternoon was spent in the lab with Jenny, my CS lab partner. We got some more things done on the project, which is due Thursday. I don't want to sound lazy (too late), but it's nice having Jenny, as she tends to work on stuff a lot on her own. Of course, I come in and figure out the tough stuff, so...;-) After that we went to dinner with Derek, then we all went to see Spiderman. Now mind you, I wasn't really looking forward to seeing the movie in the first place, but I must say, I wasn't impressed. It just didn't seem like there were many (good) jokes, and some of the plot was just plain stupid. Let's see, who will Spiderman let die, a car full of little kids or his love interest? Yeah, like they're really going to let one or the other die. Uh huh.

Yesterday morning we went down to the Farmer's Market with Erin and Ruppert. Nothing too exciting, but it did get Amy up. Then we went to the Apple store to check out the new PowerBooks. Yes, I've decided it's finally time to get a new computer. It has been five years now (the summer before I came to college). I've decided that when I walk in to computer stores I must have a look on my face that says "I know more than you do", as nobody ever comes to help me. Now, mind you, other people are getting gobs of attention, so it's not like the staff just doesn't care. Of course, I'm not sure I'd want a lot of attention anyway, so...

Last night we had a little grill-out. Nothing too exciting, but it did mean we didn't have to go anywhere, which was nice. I more or less passed out at ten, and I was pretty much sober at that point. I guess I just needed to sleep.

Today we made a little trip up Hwy 12 (they've already started construction - it will be 4 lanes from Middleton to Baraboo) to the Sauk Prarie area to check out the dam and the place I took that nice picture of Amy and I (there were people fishing at that spot today, so I couldn't take a follow-up picture). When we were at the dam (which is owned by Alliant), I was taking some pictures down by the water. Well, this area is apparently the Asian fishing mecca of Wisconsin, and some person (don't know where he was from, other than not from here) starts yelling at me. I couldn't understand him for the life of me, other than something about "no" and "picture". Finally the woman next to him turned around and said something to the effect of "you can't take pictures here", and then he tried to say something about that being illegal or something. Well, rather than tempt fate, I decided to turn around and go back to the car. As I was walking back a DNR truck pulled in to the lot, so I walked over and flagged the guys down. There were two, an older guy (on the phone) and a younger rookie-type guy. I asked them if there was some problem with taking pictures in the area (an Indian issue, perhaps?), and the young guy basically said "uh, I've never heard of anything like that." When the older guy finally got off the phone, he said something to the effect of "no, that's not an issue. I think you should go down and take the guy's picture and tell him you'll send it to him in the mail." I didn't bother.

One more week of class to go, then finals. Then graduation. Which isn't coming soon enough.

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The Simpsons Archive

Vital stats:
DOB 2/16/79. I'm a web developer at the Wisconsin Department of Corrections. I like lots of old music, including The Who. I spend a lot of time working with computers. And my favorite TV show (when I actually decide to watch TV, that is), obviously, is The Simpsons.

Education:
In May 2002 I officially graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a BS in computer science. In 1997 (man that seems like a long time ago) I graduated from Washington Park HS. Yes, I know, that site isn't very impressive, and no, I haven't touched it for several years.

WFS Logo

WFS:
One of the best experiences I have ever had was on a trip called Western Field Studies. This is a 33 day adventure throughout the western United States. Students travel on a school bus to national parks, monuments, forests, and places of historical interest and camp out (in tents or under the stars). I was a part of trip 25, which took place in the summer of 1996. A first for WFS was we took along a laptop computer and kept up a web site. That link will take you to the 1996 site, where there is a link to the current site.