Jumpstyle

I definitely want to figure out how to do jumpstyle, because it looks a bit like fun. (and I really like the music for it). But, ya, that homework. School is my gf at the moment, sadly.

WMU Football

So. Tuesday. Last home football game. I went. I saw. WMU lose. But I might have been on ESPN2 because 2 girls behind my group of friends had these big signs. And, President Dunn stood right behind me. The rain held off until the fourth quarter, at which point, WMU also gave up a touch down off of a punt. Basically making the losing play of the game.

Thanksgiving. Good. Yummy. In my tummy.

Homework.... no comment.

They were

I have finished watching Gankutsuou for the second time. The first time was earlier this year in the summer. It blows my heart and mind away. Enough said, other than: Go and watch.

Classes never cease to frustrate me which is why I have not had a chance to update this blog in awhile. The good news is that I've been somewhat productive on doing hw on Saturdays. Scratch that, that is probably not really good news...Good news is that midterms FINALLY ended TODAY for me. I have never taken midterms this late before in my life.

gnight world.

Godaddy Email Denying

When sending an email from Godaddy, this error occurs on certain from email addresses:
Mailbox name not allowed. The server response was: sorry, your mail was administratively denied. (#5.7.1)

So far I have determined they block:
aol.com
hotmail.com
yahoo.com
live.com
comcast.net (added 3/29/2010)


If you happen to run into any other top level domains that do not work with Godaddy, comment so I can update this list. (because being administratively denied is not as cool as it sounds)

09/09/09

School is starting. I'm not ready. Without a doubt, classes this semester will be interesting. So it's time to get back to the grind.

The date today is pretty snazzy too :D

In the 90's

Oh let my pride fall down.
I'm a little man.

O.C. Supertones


Supertones Strike Back reminds me of the 5th grade 'grad' party at celery flats area. Ryan came in 1st and Joe, Dan, and I came in 2nd in the lip sync contest. He did a Will Smith song and Joe, Dan, and I did the Supertones Strike Back. Oh memories.

Ps 62

5For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
6He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
7On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

When cheerful seems hard

humility comes before honor. (prvbs 15:33)

he who hates correction will die. (prvbs 15:10)

the best lie has the most truth in it.

Are you listenin'?

There are always thoughts to ponder. Ephesians 6:15

When a moment too soon, is a moment too late. The time to encourage a runner is when they are still running. Nothing is completed when one stays static. So take charge and step up to the microphone. One God, one body, and only one road. There's a time to enjoy everything. That time is following God's direction.

For the people we interact with: entertain angels.

Mistake for a daydream

The cd Seventeen by Cherry Valence (Aaron Eshuis) always reminds me of driving into Marshall to work at BorgWarner.

Magic

http://420.thrashbarg.net/mp_files/

Because that's how magic should really be played.

On the run

That my friend, was a 7 mile run. Way too much pavement. So much for the short 1.5 mile run I originally had in mind when I started.

Detached from the night

So my drive home from bible study tonight was interesting, to say the least. At the corning of parkview and oakland, a motorcyclist pulled up next to me. And they were decked out hardcore. They had racing boots (like this), padded pants, racing jacket, knee pads...they looked like they planned on crashing their bike. I have to admit, I've never seen a motorcyclist so decked out before. Immediately after that was someone riding a horse in front of the elementary school there. I was left speechless, because people don't just cruise around on horses in town.

Let's just hope I wasn't hallucinating...

Songs that remind me of

Goesaroundcomesaround album by Fono always reminds me of playing Rollercoaster Tycoon (the original) with my brother.

How to treat a customer

Since I've been coming down with a cold, I've increased my consumption of food. Whoo hooo...anyways, I went to Arby's yesterday with my coupon for a meal (sandwich, fries, and drink). The picture has a beef n' cheddar, which is what I always get (unless it's a deal for a plain beef sandwich and then I buy some cheese to add). In my distraction with the tap your credit card feature, I didn't fully say what sandwich I wanted. At my seat, it was not a beef n' cheddar :(

So, when there wasn't a line I went up to the counter and said I had meant to order a beef n' cheddar. My receipt did say regular roast beef, so I was trying not to get my hopes up that they would fix my situation (as you may know, they are sticklers to coupons/deals). The manager was about to go get me an entire new sandwich until he realized I just wanted some cheese. He was even more happy to oblige with that. He came back with the cheese in a container and the red sauce. :)

This left me perplexed, red sauce. I always thought it was Arby's sauce that was on beef n' cheddars. Come to find out, yes, there is the difference between Arby's sauce and the sauce on a beef n' cheddar. After all these years I never knew...and I always thought somehow it was the change in bun that made it taste different.

Back to my point, awesome customer service. I had a problem, even my mistake not double checking the items on my receipt (cost was the same), and the manager (at Arby's) was willing to fix it. With a smile.

This is in contrast to Qdobas refusing to credit my free student drink earlier this summer, without apologizing, and an overall rude tone (in my humble opinion). That is why Arby's will be getting more $$$ and Qdobas will not. Customer service. Learn it or weep.

Applied

Another card applied for. Summer just keeps ticking away. Ice Age 3 was good. Funny. A bit thought provoking as well. I definitely want to take another bike tour sometime this summer. There is so much more I would love to do, but I guess I really should prioritize. Working does take up a ton of time.

Night.

That I could get there

Sometimes I just don't know. I struggle with a lack of motivation. I have never had the real desire to "be known". Many people want to become famous or remembered for one thing or another. They are goal oriented and they will work at that until they accomplish that goal. Contrasty, I am a task oriented person. If you give me steps to the end goal then I will be successful. The other question that I need to have answered before moving forward is why? Before I start each step I like to have an understanding why this step needs to occur for the end result. This makes me slow at obtaining things I desire. I always wish and hope to dream but for some reason I never believe in a million years that I could get there. That's how I feel at the moment.

Note to self

SQL 2005 SSAS Measure Display Folders:
http://msmvps.com/blogs/robfarley/archive/2009/06/09/putting-a-calculated-member-into-a-display-folder.aspx

SQL 2005 SSIS Sharepoint list tool component:
http://sqlsrvintegrationsrv.codeplex.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=17652

Bing+Twitter

Maybe the only interesting thing about twitter is how it's combined with bing.
http://bingtweets.com/
Now to work

Give Camp

If you program, develop, or are cool: http://michigangivecamp.org/
Then check it out.

Hears my voice

It's not too often that I remember dreams. However, I still remember my dream from a few nights ago, and I wish to share it with you. It was a dark and spooky night, and....jk that is not how it really stared out.

It was a Sunday afternoon and I was located at church. Many of the church members were there along with a good deal of guests. Some reason or another I was in charge of leading worship, from the drums of course. The band setup behind everyone, basically in the main entrance way into the room. The first song apparently went well even though I wasn't there for it and walked in to lead the second song. On top of that, we (the band) ended up playing a song different than originally planned. So the girl running the slides (a girl that I haven't talked to since middle school in real life, very strange) had to find slides for the song that had been used before. She did this rather quickly, but halfway through the song it changed to different languages. For some reason I knew that this was because some missionaries had done a presentation and had the slides in different languages.

This leads us to the entire point of me telling you, the reader, this dream (in which I also told the people in my dream). Isn't it amazing that no matter what language we speak, God hears us? As Psalm 55:16-17 reads: But I call to God, and the LORD saves me. Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.


Simple reminders are always good.

Hawaii Pictures

I've started posting some pictures from my adventures in California and Hawaii on windows live: Hawaii 2009 Album

Now, to find things to do since my drumset is not located at my house...

The Normal Freak Side Show

Red velvet lips, yelling your nickname.
Cause we're normal, as a freak side show.
Let me tell you, I don't play these games.
No more no more, baby I don't know.

To the tune of Let's not and say we did -AE


cheer!O's

Battle Creek Air Show

F-15 Strike Eagle Demo, Mohr Barnstorming, F-18 Super Hornet Demo, Aerostars 3-Ship Yak, AeroShell Aerobatic Team in the T-6’s, Manfred Radius’ Sailplane, Dan Buchannan’s Airplane & Glider Extravaganza, Doug Jackson’s Japanese A6M Zero, the Hoppers in their L-39’s, Roger Buis in Otto the Helicopter & Todd Green Mid-Air Transfer, and Shockley’s Shockwave Jet Truck.

The fighter jets were amazing and loud. The AeroShell T-6's are also awesome (I've had pictures of them on my work wallpaper for quite some time). And the person jumping from a bi-plane to a helicopter was nearly unbelievable.

F-16 Thunderbirds below:

Another Day in Paradise

It's a weekend to remember,
Comes once a year like September.

Words from my mouth may be few, but
Words from my fingers are many.


Cheer!Os

mos-quito

I not only get the worst mosquito bites, but I also get them in the strangest locations. My mosquito bites swell up really big and people usually ask me if I'm okay when the see them. In reference to the locations, I currently have mosquito bites on my elbow, arm, chin, forehead, finger, and on my knuckle.

The ones on my chin and forehead look really strange, and the ones on my finger and knuckle are really annoying.

Also happy 4th of July for those who read this. I am planning on going to the Battle Creek air show and South Haven fireworks. Those should make for one completely packed day.

Cheers~!

Hawaii

A little bit of fun in the sun never hurt anyone. And frankly I enjoyed Hawaii very much so. In many ways Hawaii is the most diversely amazing location I have ever visited. In contrast, Hawaii took me by surprise as it was far different than I had imagined.
The temperature was warm, never cold or overbearingly hot. In fact, the weather gave me a mellow mood. According to some locals, Kona usually isn't as cloudy as the week was when I visited. The rainy season and the wind blowing the volcanic-fog (vog) over Kona kept the sun hidden a good amount of the time.
The beaches on Big Island are not what I perceive as a beach. When one says, walk on the beach, I think: walk on sand. Most of the beaches were composed of volcanic rocks and little sand. There was a bit of sand to layout on, but rocks are present the moment you get to the edge of the water.

Anyways, the fun stuff that I did included: running, kayaking, snorkeling at Cpt. Cook's monument, eating out on the ocean front, hiking mauna kea, luau, more snorkeling, volcano national park (lava tubes, seeing the smoke from the current erupting volcano, and more scenic views from black lava to rain forests), coffee farm tour, catamaran sunset sail, and probably other stuff I am forgetting but will fill in later. I made it into the hot tub every single day in Hawaii.

Back in California, before the flight to Hawaii, I walked around downtown disney. Ate at the Cheesecake Factory, and walked around a California mall (much more enjoyable than a Michigan mall). Went to Gremban's wedding located at a vineyard which was stunning!
After Hawaii, I relaxed at the pool and hot tub. In the evening I went to an Angles vs. Rockies baseball game with Kevin.

Side note: I slept on the couch every single night of the vacation except for the last night which I was only in the hotel for 6 hours anyways. All my stuff was packed into a carry on and a backpack.

That's all folks, cheers!

Shoes

Have got to be my favorite article of apparel. It's only easy to throw them away when they don't fit.

Virtual PC and SQL Database Restore

A coworker ran into the problem of not being able to restore a SQL database to a vpc machine. The Name of the backup would read in as "*** INCOMPLETE ***". The backup file was fairly large (about 6GB). A small database restore worked, but not the large file.

Anyways, the exact problem and simple solution to the problem can be found on Stuart Cox's blog:
http://techpunch.wordpress.com/2008/10/16/virtual-pc-sql-server-restore-database-failure-media-family-incorrectly-formed/

I need to start structuring posts like Stuart Cox, clearly laying out Problem / Resolution, because that makes things clear to understand.

Fixed Width

A comic from xkcd:
http://xkcd.com/276/

I just noticed that rob could have replied "definitely for real" and the line lengths would have still been in sync. Rob screwed himself.

On another note, there was a person driving the wrong direction on the wmu engineering campus this morning. Why am I always in the same lane as them? I don't even think it phased me this time that I was in the direct path of a head on collision.

I love star gazing, hot tubs, and bible studies. Monday nights are awesome.

At the moment

Proverbs 5:21
For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD,
and he ponders all his paths.

Always something to keep in mind.

Habits

I have a habit of writing random things on random sheets of paper. Here's one I came across while cleaning my room:

I walked away
leaving you empty handed.
I was a friend
leaving you abandoned.
I would change everything,
I would give you wings.
Blind without my eyes,
I so much apologize.

and another:

You killed a man without a gun.
Just ten words said and done.
My mind is dead to truth and lies.

Room is getting cleaner tho :D

Starting to catch up

Wishes and dreams
I hope to redeem

Life is more funner without school. I still manage to keep myself busy, but summer busyness is far less stressful.

I have almost completed a project at work which is pretty sweet. The project is an Outlook add-in that uses data from Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

The summer list

Now that finals are over and classes are becoming more than a thought away, I should post a list of things I would like to accomplish over the summer.

1. Clean my room. It's been bugging me.
2. Learn the tetris along with some more final fantasy songs on the piano.
3. Write the paper for my co-op class.
4. Establish plans for my senior research project (and hopefully get a heads start).
5. Shoot some clay targets at the gun club.
6. Buy some sunglasses.


That is all that comes to mind at the moment. I might update the list later.

How Oakley lost my order

I was extremely excited to order a new pair of Oakley Flak Jacket XLJ Grey Smoke/Slate Iridium (03-922). I placed my order online on March 7, 2009. The item said it was backordered and stated it usually ships in 5-7 days. I waited, waited, and waited.

Finally, March 23, 2009 I call up Oakley to inquire about my order. They confirmed my order was still on backorder. The person explained that they get orders in on Thursdays. Each back order gets tagged a priority, so if 50 are received, then the first 50 orders would be fulfilled.

The person didn't really indicate how likely it was for my order to arrive this week, only that I should call Friday, and if it was not shipped then I could cancel. In other words, I told them to cancel my order now because I don't have time to keep calling them. They graciously cancelled my order.

There are 2 reasons why I feel it was a good choice to cancel my order:
1. Most companies would be head over heels to complete the order of a customer when the cash is at hand. So I thought, but obviously not for Oakley. My order made it through 2 ordering/shipment cycles and still was not fulfilled. Thus, if Oakley is unable to even complete my order when I am giving them money, how much quicker do you think Oakley will be I run into any problem with my sunglasses under warranty? Strike 1
2. Oakley quoted 5-7 days for the back order, it has been 11 BUSINESS days. Oakley claims 5-7 days for custom sunglasses. I ordered one of Oakley's normal selection of styles, not a custom one. Strike 2
3. It didn't sound like they wanted my order anyways. Strike 3

Oakley totally disappointed me.

(and if you're from Oakley I wouldn't mind you guys trying to change my bad experience into a good one, so post a comment) Until then, goodbye Oakley.

I wouldn't mind hearing if anyone else experienced or is experiencing the same issue with Oakley (or if I am the only case).


Hope this helps anyone looking for a review about Oakley sunglasses.

Power to the people

Yesterday I toured the WMU power plant...and it was epic.  The tour was fun to say the least.  Lots of pipes and lights.  One thing I never really realized is that the plant needs to reduce the hardness of the water to basically 0 (since the wmu power plant uses steam).  

Kev Php Key had a good observation:  "Gupta, why are you wrong?"

Gupta's response: "You have a good observation."

(okay somewhat modified)

Cheers!

iconical

I am fascinated by icons and game soundtracks.

One day out of the blue clear sky

Practically every line from Forrest Gump is a great quote. I'm sure people hate it when I'm watching that movie while talking with them on aim. Example:

[08:40PM] friend: what r u doing ur lit review on?
[08:41PM] me: oleds
[08:41PM] friend: oooh
[08:41PM] friend: those TV's are the bomb
[08:41PM] me: yuppers
[08:41PM] me: i ran clear to the ocean
[08:41PM] friend: and suuuuuppper expensive
[08:41PM] me: and when i got there i figured i might as well turn around and keep on going

I need to use this line more often - "I'm pretty tired. I think I'll go home now."


That's all I got to say about that.

Non-Stop ACTION

errr... homework.

Way too much hw last week. Last week was miserable at best. Ended Wednesday-ish . Grr... I feel like I'm going to be the most social inept person this semester. Life goes on and on and on and on.

ugh.

Too Legit

I used to be legit. I was too legit. I was too legit to quit. but now I'm not legit. I'm unlegit. And for that reason, I must quit. Pick your choice of MC Hammer or Rod Kimble.

Power adapter arrived today and I ordered it Thursday at 10am. That is with 3-5 day shipping. I am impressed with dell. The power adapter was being shipped from Ohio and was shipped via UPS to the oshtemo location last night. Even so, the power adapter is amazing because it's an extra 3 feet longer than my last power adapter. Now I can charge my battery :D

Aww crappy AC

"Your system will operate slower and the battery will not charge. Please connect a Dell 65W AC adapter or higher for best system operation."

Man, at least I can run off of the AC adapter. But it looks like I can't charge my battery at all anymore. Time to start looking for a new laptop (and it won't be painted even remotely as cool as my current laptop).

However, since I am a computer engineer, I will do my best to diagnose and fix the issue (after backing up all my data).
1. Verify that the power adapter is working on another laptop.
2. Verify the battery is working some how?
3. Make sure the connections are strong and solid between the AC port and motherboard.


Mannnnnnn, grrr....


(The problem was with the power adapter. A new power adapter did fix the problem. Nothing was wrong with the laptop.)

Godaddy

Makes me mad. Logging into my account results in:

"Please contact customer service at (480) 505-8855 regarding your account"

Thanks retards for forcing me to call a non toll free number because Godaddy screws up their security. I hate the fact they require a credit card to be maintained on file. I should get a credit card that offers the one time use number generator. That way I don't have to worry about Godaddy's incompetency.

Anyone have experience of a better DNS provider?

Oh, the snow

These are the days, I
Should have lived better.
These are the days, that
Snow has made wetter.

Oh, the snow
The temperature sinking.
Oh, my heart
Only keeps beating.

These are the days, my
Mind's full of clutter.
These are the days, you
You wrote that letter.

Oh, the snow
The temperature sinking.
Oh, my heart
Only keeps beating for you.

25,000 miles

And I still haven't learned jack squat. (warning that i'm going to ramble the rest of the post) I feel frustrated, and the root of the frustration throws a stack overflow. Maybe the fact that I'm expressing my feelings in programming similes is one cause.
The real frustration I would take a stab at is: me.
Where do I go from here? This question gets asked sooo many ways. Like what do you plan on doing with your degree? I don't care, whatever job God gives me I will enjoy. Is that a problem not to care? I have a year and a half, Lord willing, and when that time comes THEN I can start filling out the applications.
One thing I do think would help is to deactivate my facebook account. This is something I have been wanting to do, and for a couple reason, I haven't yet.

Sufjan Stevens clearly sums up my feelings with the song Sister Winter:
"Oh my friends I've
Begun to worry right
Where I should be grateful
I should be satisfied

Oh my heart I
Would clap and dance in place
With my friends I have so
Much pleasure to embrace

But my heart is
Returned to sister winter
But my heart is
As cold as ice

Oh my thoughts I
Return to summertime
When I kissed your ankle
I kissed you through the night

All my gifts I gave everything you
Your strange imagination
You threw it all away

Now my heart is
Returned to sister winter
Now my heart is
As cold as ice

All my friends, I've
Returned to sister winter
All my friends, I
Apologise, apologise"


maybe I can get to sleep after getting my sparse thoughts down. (oh and 25,000 miles refers to how many miles i've logged on my vibe).

Shrimp Wrap

My ear hurts.
Thus, space appears to have more power than time because space can be reused.

Sweet Express

Sweet Express

This is what I did during Christmas break 2008. Somewhat in reverse order. I drove and visited my brother in the new house. Then my sister came up after Christmas and we went skiing.

Sister Winter by Sufjan Stevens is the backing audio track.

!Read

People STILL don't know how to turn on their lights! The first snow fall was months ago. Even if you can't drive in the snow, you should at least have a tenth of a brain to turn on your lights.

Rocks and socks and clocks oh my!

I feel like college has just beleaguered me.

I never finished my one goal of cleaning my room.

Time to go to class for my apparent gallant doom.