Well you know what? *I* like it, and that's what matters.

Well, my car is fixed! It took six hours and $150 but my car now gets me to where I need to be.

I went to Cambridge with Andrew and Hugh the other day. Andrew needed to get some skipants for his skitrip, and the National Sports here didn't have what he needed, but they told him the National Sports in Cambridge could get him what he needed. While we were there, we went to the mall, where I got FFVI Advance from the EBGames. We also went to the fabled Bluenotes outlet that John always gets his three dollar t-shirts from. Shirts with so called "witty" slogans on them aren't my thing, but they were indeed cheap. Hugh picked up a $20 parka that I thought was very good for the price. Not only was it only $20, but they were also under the "buy one get one free" deal. Long story short, Hugh and I walked out with matching parkas (though his is black and mine is brown).

I got out to a movie with Caroline, from the euchre club, the other night. We went to go see Smokin' Aces. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and found it startlingly similar to Lucky Number Slevin in style. Of course, since Kevin Durand had a sizable part in the movie, I had to mention that he's from Thunder Bay. Good for him.

Oh yeah, funny story from the other night. Katie was coming over Monday night to watch Prison Break and Heroes (actually, she only stayed for Prison Break), so I offered to pick Caroline up to watch them with us (she watched Heroes as well). I went to go pick her up, and due to her living on a busy street (Columbia), and my inability to see house numbers quickly, I wound up parking my car a few houses down. I walked up to her house, which was pitch black, and remember that she told me that her entrance was through the garage. I opened the door to the garage, and it was pitch black inside. I tried calling her cell, and only got voice mail. I waited around a few minutes, hoping she'd come out, but she never did.

At this point, I figure the only thing I could possibly do to get in communication with her is to drive back home, and see if she was still at her computer. Unfortunately, she was not, so I verified that I had the right address (psh, who writes down addresses?), hightailed it back, and used my cellphone as a flashlight in the garage. It turns out that once you get a few steps in, the light turns on via a motion sensor. Luckily, she wasn't waiting around the whole time, but did some dishes in the meantime. All in all, a somewhat interesting and awkward sequence of events.

I had big plans to play through Shadow Hearts this week, but it seems that the TV is in heavy contention. Hugh also had the bright idea of killing the week with video games, and Andrew has his usual Smash Bros. stints. I'm only about 8 hours into the game, sadly. I really should be getting on that crypto assignment too. It's bothersome to think that my week off is half over. I'm not particularly looking forward to getting back to class.

Listening to... The Human Abstract - Crossing the Rubicon
Link of the moment... Thanks for the nice link Paul

Did I just say "ego-testicle?"

Beware the pronunciation of the word egotistical.

Well, my two pre-reading-week midterms are over and done with. I expect between 50-65 on Network Design (hey, a pass is a win in my books!), and perhaps between 75-85 on my network flows midterm. Another day of studying probably would have gone a long way towards the latter test, but what's another ten percent on my midterm going to get me in life? Nowhere, I'm sure.

I've only got a few hours of class tomorrow before I can truly start my week off. I think I'm already starting to go crazy from hanging around the house too much, so we'll see how long it takes before I snap.

It turns out that Katie (from the euchre club) lives a stone's throw away from my house. She walked home with Andrew and I last Tuesday. Last night, she was talking to Andrew on MSN, insisting that we play euchre with her and her friend. Long story short, we played euchre and crokinole until about 1:30. It was good times, but I was really dead tired before they even showed up, so I may have been a bit crankier than usual. The both of them convinced me to play Mario Party and Scene It in the near future with them. I'm pretty excited that I've got a friend that lives close by. We rarely have people over, and last night was a lot of fun!

Sometime this weekend, I've got to get my car to Canadian Tire to get the battery charged or replaced. I think I'll call CAA, get them to give me a boost to get my car started in the parking lot, drive to Canadian Tire, and then leave it running while I go in to get serviced. It'll take a few hours out of my day, but I'll have the time for it, and it'll be well worth it to have the car for the rest of the week.

Well, I've still got class tomorrow, and I'm pretty bushed, so I think I'm gonna get some sleep. Until later, diary!

Listening to... Billy Talent - Fallen Leaves
Link of the moment... Happy Valentine's day! Maybe next year I'll have someone with which to celebrate it.

Don't let the euchre club die!

Well, it seems like none of the current euchre exec want to come back for another year. I'll be graduated, and the other three have just been doing it too long and want to move on. I hope we get a good set of people who want to be exec for next year; it would be a shame if a club that I care about so much was to die out so quickly after it was started.

Speaking of euchre, I had a really good night yesterday. I had seven wins and one loss, and it shot me into second place in the rankings! I also enjoyed the company of everyone else I played with, of course, but it's nice to have a solid set of wins for a change. Let's see how long it lasts...

I had a pretty good weekend, overall. I was feeling pretty nauseous for most of it, unfortunately. I got some Mario Party and Ticket To Ride out of my system. We went out for dinner on Saturday night, and man it was freezing. A blizzard started up just as we were leaving for dinner. What's worse is that we had to keep going out into it becuase we couldn't find anyplace with a short enough wait time. We eventually settled on Kelsey's, and waited the 50 minutes.

Earlier that day, my car wouldn't start in the Sobey's parking lot. I had to call CAA, and wait for a towtruck. He gave me a jump, as the battery was lacking sufficient juice. I'm a little wary to use my car now, at least until the weather starts to get a little less harsh. Unfortunately, I seem to keep finding uses for my car; Quinn wants me to get pop for the next euchre meeting again. I'll probably use it while John is in Las Vegas, since our parking spot will be otherwise empty.

It looks like it might be another lonesome Valentine's day. I have a date with a midterm that night, so even if I did want to ask some girl out (say, someone in the euchre club), I wouldn't be able to go out that night.

At least it looks like I'll be able to kick back for the reading week. Like I said, John will be going to Las Vegas, and Andrew might be going on a ski trip. Hugh said he'll probably go home for a few days, so I might find myself home alone to catch up on some gaming. I might be able to find a person or two in the K-W area who might want to catch a movie, who knows.

My Network Designs course is not getting any easier. I haven't been able to follow along with the lecutres; the material is really over my head at the moment. I've got an assignment due Monday, which means I have to ask questions on Friday, which means I have to work on the assignment tomorrow. Of course, working on the assignment is pretty well dependent on my understanding the course, so in a perfect world, I'll learn most of the course tomorrow afternoon, at least to the point where I can understand the assignment. Then, I'll have to learn the rest for the midterm next Wednesday. Luckily, I'm done my two assignments that are due Friday, so I only have the one thing to worry about.

I bought Through the Desert this previous weekend, and had a game with Andrew and John. It was pretty good. As usual, there's not a very explicit sense of interaction with other players, but you do have to consider what other players will do on their turns. Andrew won and I came in a pretty distant second. This Saturday, there will be another games day, so I think I'll get out to it again (but this time I'll bring something with me in case I find myself waiting on games to finish again).

I'm not fond of my sleeping habits lately. I honestly find myself sleeping for eleven hours when given the opportunity. I suspect that it is due to my lack of physical activity (aparently walking an hour to and from class doesn't cut it), but I am unwilling to do anything about it. To actually get out and do some exercise would take at least a two hour commitment, and then I'd be using two hours a day to cut back on an hour of unnecessary sleep.

Speaking of, I think I'll get some sleep now. My mind and body need to be well rested to bend some approximation algorithms to do my bidding.

Listening to... The Distillers - For Tonight You're Only Here to Know
Link of the moment... I think I'll order this game this weekend, to save the use of my car