Decisions Decided

My summer should be half over by now.

I was really relieved when I got two more A's for this semester. That bumps my overall QPA up to about 3.2. If all goes well that will be up to 3.5 by the time I graduate.

I didn't really do as much celebrating for Independence Day as I normally do.This was the first year I can remember watching fireworks on TV. I usually go out see them live. But it's OK the shows on TV are good too.

I am now two weeks into my third summer class here at Slippery Rock University. That's a funny story actually. I had originally planned on taking painting as this third class. When deciding what class to take I didn't really want to take painting. It was one of three prerequisite options for a class needed for my second major (Information Technology), the others being ceramics, and drawing. I would have prefered drawing but I was taking my more important animation class at that time already. On the first day of painting I went to class like a dedicated student. When I got there I realized there was no way I was going to enjoy the class. On the Friday beforehand I had decided to drop my second major and switch it to a minor and then also pick up a philosophy minor. That means I didn't even need to take painting any more. So not only did I not enjoy it I didn't even need it. Later that morning, a good friend of mine (and wonderful roommate by the name of Joe) came to visit. He suggested that I take Chemistry 2 instead. I hadn't thought of this since I had planned on taking Physics 2 instead since I only need one of them for my Computer Science major. Not only does it satisfy more requirements, but I will enjoy it immensely more than painting.

I also picked up the iPod Touch 2.0 firmware. I decided to forgo the January update half expecting those features to be built into version 2.0. I would rather wait and pay less than get things right away. Now I can finally experience what everyone else has since January and more. I don't know why location awareness is available to apps since as far as I can tell the iPod Touch is not location aware. What was excited to see was the official Pandora application. I imagined listening to Pandora on it ever since I got it. I haven't paid for any applications yet but if I do the first will be Super Monkey Ball.

Because my class is only 2 hours every day with only about 1 hour of homework per day I have a lot (a ton, too much, excessive amounts, etc.) of free time on my hands. I've been filling some of that time with leisurely reading. A few hours ago I finished Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. It made me really think about things in life. For my next book I'll have to pick something else of Lifehacker's list of books that changed lives.

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Summertime

So much has happened since my last post, which was only a week ago. Not all of it pertains primarily to me.

First off, the next major version of Firefox was released. It's now up to 3! There are thousands of improvements over version 2. But the most convincing reason to upgrade is probably the stability and performance enhancements. Firefox 3 will crash less and use less memory all while performing faster.

Firefox's release was mere hours after the release of the Spore Creature Creator. The creature creator is the precursor to the actual game which is scheduled to be released on September 7. I am really anticipating the release because the game just might be the most difficult undertaking by any game producer.

In other news my Chemistry professor told me without looking at his records that I probably have the highest grade in the class. That means that I can relax and possibly worry less this final week.

A few months ago I was participating in the Flickr Project 365. The premise of the project is to take a picture every day for a year. Unfortunately, I was unable to finish due to losing my camera for a few weeks. I plan on trying again sometime soon, hopefully starting on July 1. Regardless, one of my friends was inspired to try the same concept with songs. He has started a MySpace page dedicated to his project known as SongProject365.

It is also now officially summer here. Which means I am officially missing out on summer to take classes.

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Unwanted Variety

Things Happen.

Last week I started my next summer class, Chemistry. I haven't had any chemistry classes since 11th grade in high school. It was quite a shock when I started the class. I was nice and comfortable with my art class having no homework. Now I have either a physical or online assignment due every day. That hasn't discouraged me though. In fact I fear that I may be a little over confident. The first exam went extremely smoothly but I haven't received the results yet.

My little brother graduated high school on Friday. Both him and I attended North Allegheny. For me that meant an opportunity to take lots of pictures. Given the size of his graduating class it lent itself nicely to panoramic photos. I don't get very many chances like this to make panoramas. If anyone is interested, I use ArcSoft Panorama Maker for stitching the photos together.

How much money is Apple making? You don't have to answer that in more detail than 'a lot.' So why do they keep charging for upgrades to the iPod Touch? They treat the iPod Touch like the ugly step-sibling of the iPhone. I appreciate that there is development on the platform, but it only seems like there is because of the iPhone.

I recently started playing Okami. I must say that it is the most artistic game I have ever seen. I know it's been out for quite while for PS2 and Wii, but I only bought it recently.

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Animated

I'm beginning to settle down here.

Today I finished my animation. Well, technically I finished yesterday and it rendered overnight. When I started taking this class I was not expecting to make anything 3D. But when he said we could do something in 3D for our projects I couldn't pass it up. I spent about the first week of class getting acclimated to the program I was using (Strata 3D CX). The following two weeks I spent creating this animation. By the end my professor said that for the time in which I worked on it I have learned a lot about working in 3D.

This also marks the end of my first class this summer. My next one is Intro to Chemistry and it starts on Monday. I haven't taken any chemistry classes since the one in high school just over 4 years ago. However I did get one of the highest grades in the class so I'm not too worried about it.

Just after my last post I opened up Wii Fit. The first thing it wanted to do was measure my BMI. Luckily it said that I am in the normal range. When you start off it asks you whether you want a male or female trainer. In video games I like to explore all the options, so I tried both. The guy just seems really weird. Afterward I went through the rest of the activities readily available as some need to be unlocked. It really seems like a lot of fun.

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Comings and Goings

So it finally feels like summer here in Slippery Rock.

It feels just like a continuation of last summer. My class then was in the same room with the same professor. The difference now is that my course number is 214 instead of 114. My animation is coming along nicely. Watch for it here soon. It's nothing really impressive, mostly just me exploring what is possible with 3d animation.

I was supposed to celebrate four birthdays this weekend but only ended up celebrating two of them. We went shopping on the south side of Pittsburgh to kick things off. The first thing that we all did together was go to the Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon laser show at the Carnegie Science Center. Some of my friends went about two years ago and really loved it. I didn't get quite as much of an experience as they did, but I still liked it. My favorite song, by far, was Money. The next day one of the birthday girls had to go to work at the mall so we decided to go visit her. Since it's the mall we also went shopping. Most of my clothes are very simplistic and cheap, but for some reason I felt I needed to buy an outfit that is out of my ordinary. (I've been feeling I need a change for a while.) High end clothes are not really my thing, so when I bought an outfit at Hollister I surprised even myself. All I need now is people to see me.

I also figured out why I need a change. For the past 3 years I've attended SRU. The last time I attended any school for more than 2 years was elementary school. I guess I'm just not used to staying in one place for such a long time.

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First Post

I recently started summer classes at Slippery Rock University. The nice thing about it is I might be able to graduate with only 1 extra semester under my belt. The bad is that there is nobody else around. The town is primarily made up of students who go home for summer. There is pretty much nobody left here. there are about 20 students living on campus with me. Needless to say I am really bored.

My class is an art class, Art Synthesis Digital Media. It lasts for 2.5 weeks. I am already a few days into it. I don’t have any homework because the programs we use are very expensive. Most students in the class are using Photoshop and Illustrator. I, on the other hand, decided to do some 3d animation for the class. The only 3d modeling program they have is Strata 3D CX, which runs for about $700. There is no way to assign homework if it is highly unlikely that I don’t have the necessary programs.

Later on in the summer some of my friends will also be living here in Slippery Rock. They are orientation ambassadors to new students and their families. I expect that when they get here things will be a little more lively here.

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