Miami-bound

I got a Hoya circular polarizer earlier today at Best Buy. I wished I had thought of getting one earlier, then maybe I would have been able to find one of better quality. It's alright though, since the one I got was pretty expensive already, costing about 80$. This last minute rush was hope to be able to get some good sky shots while I'm in Miami.

I'm leavin tomorrow and I'll probably be out of reach for at least the next 4 days. See ya!

Re-plugged

I got my new adapter today, so I'm re-plugged and okay to use my lappy again.

I've included some photos here of what the actual damage was on the adapter I sent back. Pretty scary stuff. Actually, it's not so scary in the pics. The smell... definitely the scariest of all...

Countdown: 3 days. I'm leaving Sunday morning!

Macbook Pro trying to kill me

Both of my index fingers look alright. They physically look complete and unscathed. However when I put a little bit of pressure on it, my nerves feel like they've been singed.

So... the cord for my power adapter on my Macbook Pro, is well, rather defective. I didn't notice it until now, but the plastic cord end housing near the mag-safe end is starting to melt. I think I may have singed my fingertips trying to touch it. I didn't notice since the damage wasn't really visible from the top. There are wires sticking out now, and the end of the housing is pretty much "blown outwards" like an umbrella, and partly melted in a couple of different spots. There's exposed wiring, and I could smell ozone when it was plugged in earlier.

Hopefully I can go get this changed out rather quickfast, since I'm not too happy not being able to work on my lappy. I am rather getting quite attached to my work environment being on OS X.

Banana chips

These banana chips I'm munching on are awesome. Crisp. Sweet, but not too sweet. Flavorful slices of candied banana. Mmm. The only downfall that is the last batch that I have. My mom got these from some small city in the Philippines, and it's not likely I'll be eating these any time soon. So, I'm savoring the last of these. yummmm.

Hopefully, when I go down to Miami, I can find some plantain chips that taste like this.

ETA: 11 days.

Back on the Rails!

It's snowing.... It's... -11 degrees right now, I'm hiding and not going outside. Too cold, there's been some snow here in Richmond, but it's still assailable. The next snow storm will definitely send the traffic into shock, though I'm sure it already is in Burnaby and Vancouver.

I'm taking another crack at Ruby on Rails again. I think I'm doing a lot better this time because I was thrown off by initial shock the first time. Attempting another try with a project in mind really helps so I can actually apply things on the fly instead of blindly reading through the manual. I'm getting the hang of it. I really must admit that the framework is genius. But it's still a bit esoteric in the examples / tutorials.

They really need a step-wise objective-based tutorial system to apply certain changes. I'm using the Agile Web Development with Rails book and the straight run through approach that they do is really unhelpful. It only makes me scratch my head and think I'm stupid because they're doing all these things in a few minutes while I take a couple hours to try and understand what single steps are for, and why they do it.

Hrm....

Countdown to trip: 16 more days

YouTube Channel Surfing

College Saga is a live-action RPG parody. It uses themes, concepts, and music from all of the classic console RPGs with twists and oddities that look even funnier with actual people acting them out. There's also a couple of outright political commentary, but nothing that's not common knowledge. The genius of it is that they mix the nuances of RPG's and are somehow able to use "actions" and convey it with blatant disregard for American figureheads. Haha, well, since the current American politicians are easy targets and always seem to work their way into mainstream media in the form of comedy, it just seems appropriate. But, I digress, the video speaks for itself.

It is probably funnier for people who plays RPGs, but it's just hilarious in its own respect.

Poker's Eve

I was at River Rock Casino tonight with my parents. My mom was playing the slots while, my dad and I were playing something called Pacific Poker. It's a mix in-between Texas Hold Em, and Lottery. We lost on 9 of the 10 tickets, but we managed to actually win on our last live ticket. Drawed a full house and managed to win back the original bets and then some. It was a lot because only 3 people out of... I have no idea how many actually, beat the house hands.

After that, I went home and continued playing more Poker After Dark Freeroll Tournaments for a shot at a table spot on the Poker After Dark tv show to play with pros. I almost won a spot to round 2 qualifiers, but I managed to lose again. This time though was my best finish with an unbelievable 3rd place. Had I beaten one more, I would have earned that spot. Oh well... I got a couple more days to try again.

If you're bored, take a look at me boxing on the Wii.

Prophets of my imagination

From a dream I had the other night, about a person who travels back in time to find out who a prophet figure, or some type of religious hero, was. In all irony, he finds that the icon he was looking for is himself, or another incarnation of himself.

A rough translation of what I can remember, of which I'm sure is not right. Dream memory plus a day to let it slip isn't exactly a carbon copy, but I thought it merits some analysis.
"Our true friends create the path to heaven
Salvation delivered to us by Angels"

It was odd, because the future presence who comes "back" uses the term of "Christ" rather than "Angels".

I'm not really well-versed in religious scripture or philosophy, so I'm pretty sure I'm crazy for creating all this in my head.