www.BrettDaniel.com

I promised myself I wouldn't do any schoolwork over Thanksgiving break, but I didn't expect I would be so superbly unproductive. I did nothing, and when I got back, my todo list exploded. BANG!!! Walls covered in math, my compilers project dripping off the ceiling, and my history term project lying on the floor like a dead elephant. I forsee these next two weeks until finals will be fun, fun, fun.

I noticed females have been underrepresented in my notebook doodles so far. The reason is simple: they're harder to draw. All curvey.

I haven't a clue what she is doing. Any ideas?

Eric wanted an animated Facebook profile picture, so tonight we put together the following:

Not bad for two takes and fifteen minutes' work.

Update

I have been getting a lot of hits from people searching for how to make an animated Facebook picture like this one. Let me share the following IM conversation with one such visitor. It explains how Eric and I made that picture work on Facebook:

(00:58:46) The Visitor: hello?
(00:58:58) Me: oy
(00:59:00) Me: who's this?
(00:59:09) The Visitor: hey this is a stranger
(00:59:21) The Visitor: was just checkn your website and had a question for ya
(00:59:32) Me: ah ok.
never got an IM from a stranger before.
exciting.
(00:59:36) Me: what can I do for you?
(00:59:53) The Visitor: yeah i was wondering how exactly did you make a animated facebook picture
(01:00:24) Me: ah yeah. my roommate and I had to fight with it a while.
we think they have a size limit on the picture. They also make it look like a .jpg when it's really a .gif.
(01:00:37) Me: we made an animation and resized it until it worked
(01:00:42) The Visitor: i see
(01:00:49) Me: we should've recorded the size.
(01:00:58) Me: I've been getting a lot of hits from people looking for how to make one
(01:01:06) The Visitor: oh lol
(01:01:31) The Visitor: well yeah i just have a couple of gifs on my pc and was just curious of how the hell i upload one of them
(01:02:49) Me: ah.
click "view my profile" on the main page after login
click "edit" at the top right of the on the picture box in the top left of the content area
upload away
(01:03:11) Me: just click the "browse" button and choose the picture
(01:03:29) The Visitor: ok im following all of that
(01:03:43) The Visitor: but when i upload it it's a still picture
(01:03:51) Me: no animation, you mean?
(01:03:51) The Visitor: do i need to save it a certain way?
(01:03:55) The Visitor: yeah
(01:04:09) Me: check your profile. it may display differently there.
(01:04:17) Me: if not, try uploading a smaller picture
(01:04:47) The Visitor: yeah it's still not moving
(01:04:53) The Visitor: is there a way to make the gif smaller?
(01:05:01) Me: hm.
do you have Adobe Imageready?
(01:05:20) Me: that's what we used. I am not sure what other programs would do it for you
(01:05:32) The Visitor: yeah i think so
(01:06:34) Me: Image > Image Size on the main menu will resize it and should retain the animation
(01:07:35) The Visitor: k thanks
(01:07:38) Me: works?
(01:07:56) The Visitor: so if the picture doesn't work it just means it's too big?
(01:08:11) Me: *shrugs*
that is the only thing my roommate and I could think of.
(01:08:25) The Visitor: k thanks alot
(01:08:32) The Visitor: sorry to bother ya
(01:08:33) Me: because facebook does some dynamic resizing in places that we think messes with the animation
(01:08:36) Me: no bother. glad to help

• Grand List of Console Role Playing Game Clichés – This exhaustive list describes almost every console RPG I've ever played.
• Purple America – This link is perhaps a bit late, but I like how it puts the whole "Red State/Blue State" thing into perspective.
• Fun with Prime Numbers – When I first learned how to program way back in high school, one of the first programs I tried to write was the Sieve of Eratosthenes. Another was calculating pi, but that's another story.
• Museum of Media History circa 2014 — This is some amazing near-future science fiction that fits the Flash format perfectly. I find it especially interesting because I recently read a story that took the exact opposite view: instead of all information becoming free, someone in the story figured out how to make it all proprietary. Ironically, that story was in a physicial book that I can't link to.
• Mom's Cancer – This is powerful internet storytelling in comic form.

Dear Internet,

Thanks for the links.

Love,

Brett

Aside from the concert on Friday, I devoted my entire existence last week to the latest compilers project. It came close to the difficulty of the last one if not in size then by sheer number of arcane edge cases. Lee and I would hack one part together only to find we had to redo it elsewhere to accomodate a new test. Marc described it best when he said, "It's like a frickin' Chinese puzzle!"

These programming projects really consume one's life. Lee and I both dreamt about code the night before the project was due.

Friday night, sitting in a coffeehouse with friends while Charlie plays a solo guitar set in the corner. He finishes with a flourish on his beautiful acoustic guitar, and we all turn and clap for him. It brings back strong, strong memories of the many Friday evening concerts in high school. Even the people are the same: the usual suspects from Purdue attend, and a few people like Laura drive up from elsewhere.

We help Charlie pack up his equipment after he finishes his set, then we all walk across the street to a bar— an 18-and-over hookah bar, to be precise*. Dimly lit and decorated in Indian velvet and sculpted bronze, the place looks like a small back room of a sheik's palace. Stuart and Matt befriend a waiter and order two hookahs for the table. Soon the fragrance of the flavored tobacco surrounds us. About half of those at table partake in the hookahs while Laura, me, and a few others enjoy fruit drinks and the atmosphere instead.

From the bar we migrate over to Michael, Stuart, Chris, and Josh's apartment where much hilarity ensues**.

* I really debated whether or not to write about going to a tobacco bar last Friday. After all, my parents, grandmother, previous employers and who knows who else read this weblog. However, I feel I would have been censoring myself and changing the entire flavor of the evening had I not mentioned it. It was a fun, completely legal gettogether with friends in an interesting environment. What am I worried about?

** I debated even harder about posting this picture of Matt breathing fire. Yes, it's unbelievably dangerous and it probably could have sparked (HA!) the ire of the Fire Marshall, but c'mon! Isn't that an awesome picture?

One of my Algorithms homework questions reads:

I flip to the question nine at the end of chapter seven. That question begins:

I flip back several pages to find Example 7.6 and its accompanying figure 7.28, then search several more pages to find Definition 7.14. I find my post-it notes and mark the three pages I need to answer the question. I solve it and proceed:

This question reads:

Ironic that we're working on graph theory right now, no?

Is this post an update to Saturday's or is Saturday's a precursor to this one? In either case, I have the conclusion to both of the unfinished items I mentioned.

The apartment situation worked itself out, though not exactly as planned. Lee and his parents decided that he would be better off in the "graduate housing" on campus. The rooms are small singles and doubles, but they have bathrooms and the students cook their own food. It amounts to living about halfway between dorms and true apartments. Lee is happy, and it works out for Eric and me. We signed for a top-floor double earlier today because neither of us could think of a third person to replace Lee on such short notice, and, besides, the triple we wanted was gone. Here's the funny part: our apartment is right next door to Mel and Elise's. Eric loves the idea of living next door to his girlfriend. It should be interesting.

Speaking of girlfriends*, Laura came up yesterday as planned. I took her on a better Purdue tour, walking all the way out to just shy of the apartment building where Eric and I will live. Then, we did something unique: we went to work out together. "So many people..." Laura said in awe as we entered the fitness center. She normally works out late, late at night, so what was a small crowd for me was huge for her. Just as we found a bench, one of the workers walked up to Laura and said, "I'm sorry. We can't allow you to work out unless you have a shirt with sleeves." She was wearing a sporty tank top and flannel pants; certainly appropriate workout garb anywhere else. Pointless, bureaucratic rules aside, we had no choice but to return to the dorm to get a t-shirt. I felt terrible for forgetting that the Rec. Center had a dress code. We returned and made a light rotatation around the gym without any further incidents. Laura never did get comfortable with all the people.

For the rest of the evening, we just hung out and enjoyed our fleeting time together. Dinner at the restaurant below The Apartment; a squishy feel-good DVD; some video games (I have learned Laura is very good at fighting games); and a stroll through the brisk fall night. While walking, we noticed the Aurora Borealis shining to the north. We rushed back into the dorm to get my camera and tripod, and I managed to capture part of the amazing display. It was a beautiful end to an enjoyable Sunday with Laura.

* If we had to describe our relationship using value-laden junior high social constructs perpetuated by The Man (or, I suppose, The Woman), Laura and I would agree that "girlfriend" and "boyfriend" would do the job well. That, and I like saying "I have a girlfriend and here is a picture." Surely this comes as no surprise after reading between the lines these past few months.

Update

The internet is abuzz with news of the Aurora Borealis and the causes thereof. Links: Astronomy Picture of the day, Metafilter, Boing Boing, Flickr, Google News, and more as I find them...

Here's a psychology experiment I'd like to see: when plans suddenly change, does it become harder to fill the time with productive work? Today, for example, I was going to sign an apartment lease for next year and hang out with Laura who was planning to visit campus. I had devoted a whole day to those things, but when neither happened, I was left with hours that I could not bring myself to fill.

The apartment story is quite a saga. Eric, Lee, and I decided a while back to rent an apartment next year instead of spending our senior year in the dorms. We're all ready to take that next baby step into the real world. After researching a bit, we made an appointment to tour a new-this-year complex about as close to campus as the dorms but in the opposite direction. Beautiful apartments (902 square feet! Balconies! Vaulted ceilings!) and the location is close to both campus and a commercial center. Unfortunately, Lee wasn't able to see them due to an exam, but we asked all sorts of questions and I took a lot of pictures. His absence did prevent us from signing that day, however. The plan was to show him the pictures, talk about options, and go back the next morning (today) to sign if we agreed on everything. The catch was that we had reserved the only top-floor triple bedroom apartment left in the complex. If we didn't go this morning it would be gone.

Eric was itching to get the apartment, largely because Mel and Elise— who had taken the tour with us— had already signed on a double just down the hall. Alas, it was not to be. Lee told us this morning that he couldn't sign yet because his parents wanted to visit and do their own research. I don't blame them; it wasn't quite a spur of the moment decision but it was pretty darn fast. We'll see what happens.

With that block of time suddenly open, I was looking forward to seeing Laura again. Unlike previous weekends, we hadn't made any specific plans for the day; just hanging out, enjoying each other's company. Alas, that, too, was not to be. Her grandmother's dog had a tumor that was acting up and Laura wanted to take care of it. It was a sickness in the family, so to speak. She's still planning to come up tomorrow, so that's a plus.

I had an entire Saturday at my disposal. What did I do? Surfed, read, and watched TV. Lazy Saturday. Also, a group of us went to see The Incredibles this evening. I won't go into a full review here, but I will say its high ratings are very well deserved. I clapped at the end. I never clap for movies.

As you may have noticed from the latest picture on the main site, I got my drawing tablet working again. I wasn't able to figure out the dual monitor problem mentioned in the linked post, so I rebuilt my dual computer KVM setup and ran the tablet through my laptop instead. That's thinking outside the box.

Speaking of drawing, this latest notebook doodle comes from the back of my macroeconomics notes:

"ThisisCharizardhe'smymostpowerfulPokemonI'mtheonlyoneinmyclasswhohashim
thoughickyBobbySmithhasBlastoiseandhekeepswantingtotradebutIdon'twanttobecause
hekickedmeatrecessonceandit'sfuntoplayPokemondoyouhaveanyPokemoncardstotrade?"

As usual, comments are open for your captions.

The Facebook allows members to create groups for those with common interests or, more frequently, the pure fun of it. About a week and a half ago, I was alerted to the Doesn't This Guy Look Like Eli Manning Club (Note: you will need to be a member to view some of these links). Some random member came across my profile, decided I looked like Peyton Manning's younger brother, and started a group proclaiming the fact. We've been over this before with Peyton himself, but this was the first I had ever heard of Eli. One of the commenters on the group's message board echoed my uncle's opnion that I look more like Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.

I still don't see the resemblance...

The biggest group I have been able to find on Facebook is Derek Zoolander's Center For Kids Who Want To Learn To Read Good and Do Other Stuff Good Too (Purdue Chapter) with over 700 members. Most, like the Elise Is Awesome Club, have around a dozen. The Doesn't This Guy Look Like Eli Manning group, meanwhile, has grown to about 240 members since I found out about it. I was amazed. How often do 240 people walk up to you on the street and say, "You look like [insert celebrity]"?

I could use several adjectives to describe last weekend: crazy, busy, full, fun, very college. I drove about 300 miles, stayed up until 4 AM twice, and attended two very different Halloween parties. Every weekend should be so good.

I started Friday's trip home later than usual. I had my car loaded and ready to go by 2:30, but it wouldn't start. I had a dead battery from leaving the dome light on for a week and a half. Eric kindly agreed to give me a jump, however neither of us knew for sure how. I knew one had to follow a particular order when attaching the clamps, but we didn't know what it was. Sad, I know. After three cell phone calls to various people, we had the situation straightened out and my car running. In what in hindsight was a tactical mistake, I didn't leave right then. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was holding tryouts in the Union, so I went to try my luck. I didn't do well on the 30-question tryout quiz, mainly because my pop culture trivia knowledge is seriously lacking. My car again failed to start when I got back. Eric patiently agreed to jump it again, and I was finally on my way around 4:30. Aside from unusually heavy traffic, the trip home was uneventful.

When I got home, I spent some time with The Parents, then went to hang out with Laura for the evening. A quick mexican dinner, then off to the pumpkin patch (read: church parking lot) for reasons that will become clear. I chose a round, basketball-sized pumpkin while Laura shopped and shopped and shopped and chose a short, squat one. We then went to a rather halfhearted haunted house. 45 minute wait for black plywood, dripping neon spraypaint, and guys in clown costumes. It was something to do, but I wouldn't recommend it too highly. By the time we left, I was amazed to see the lines had grown longer than any amusement park rollercoaster.

But our evening wasn't done! We rented Super Size Me, a documentary about America's addiction to fast food and the director's quest to eat nothing but McDonald's for a whole month. Laura and I both tend to eat healthily, so we had a grand time cringing at various scenes. At one point it talks about fast food and school lunches, and that scene alone should make the movie required viewing for any middle school health class. We finished the evening watching a little more TV and part of Kill Bill. Around 4 AM— the first of the two late nights— I drove Laura home.

Saturday was another full day. Eric's family invited Laura and me to their annual pumpkin-carving party. Such fun. Laura and I brought our pumpkins from the night before and jumped into the goopy fray. I drew and carved a computer mouse while Laura chose the most complex, intricate design possible. If we could do it again, I would have drawn the mouse differently and I think Laura would have chosen a simpler pattern. The poor girl was the last to finish. In any case, twelve carved pumpkins was a sight to behold.

After dinner, pictures, and a quick stop at Laura's house so she could change out of her pumpkin-ey clothes and into a witch/vampire costume, Laura and I set off on a road trip back to Purdue. Michael, Chris, and Stuart were throwing a Halloween party in their apartment. Road trip for a party: very college. It was only my second Purdue party, and it was about what one would expect. I was a little bored (sorry, guys), but Laura seemed to enjoy herself (that's what's important). She and I eventually left the party and hung out in the dorm for a while, playing Katamari Damacy with the sound turned off so as to not wake Eric. It was only around 2 AM by that time, so we did the obvious thing: we retraced our steps from earlier in the evening to make the trip back home. We told stories as the deserted highway blurred by, driving into our hometown at exactly 4 AM.

What a weekend.