Description
VLC got a nice facelift between this version and the version in an earlier screenshot. The video playing is from my “Serial Experiments Lain” DVD set. I later learned that it is an unlicensed copy. Bah!
Credits
It was a busy week, though I think next week will be worse. Our cable modem service was down for the better part of five days which, of course, sucks. Titus and I had to head over to the computer clusters at Tech just to take our online Biology quiz. A technician from AT&T/Comcast (who knows which one) finally came by to fix it on Tuesday. I haven’t heard anything about us being reimbursed for the downtime.
Since my resurgence of interest in anime, I’ve been more than a little curious about the numerous import anime DVDs you can find on eBay. Being able to get an entire series for less than the cost of just one of the US Region 1 DVDs is tempting to say the least. Well, this past weekend I finally took the bait and ordered “Serial Experiments Lain” for $25.99 shipped. This included the entire series on two region-free DVDs with Japanese audio and English or Chinese subtitles. Compare that against the Region 1 DVDs which have both English and Japanese audio and English subtitles spanned over four DVDs, each of which costs more than the set I ordered. So now one might begin to see the conundrum this creates. You can pay a quarter of the price at the expense of an English soundtrack (which isn’t a huge loss in some cases) and possibly inferior subtitles. So how much are these features worth? You have to wonder if these DVDs are even legit.
Well, my order arrived Friday to my delight and I eagerly examined what I got for my money. The packaging is functional and seems professional, though nothing as flashy as the US special edition lunchbox set. The video quality is good if unremarkable. The 2.1 Dolby surround sound was probably the most markable improvement over the DivX encodes I originally watched. I was a little disappointed with the subtitles. There were a few typos and number of missing periods in the fifteen minutes or so that I watched. I guess you can’t get everything for nothing.
Monday and Wednesday were hectic as usual. Biology lab went pretty well but ECE lab was longer and more frustrating than usual. Printer problems ensued again and none of these brilliant engineering majors seemed to figure out that you should watch your print queue and maybe cancel your job if it fails! It seemed obvious to me but I didn’t say anything.
Thursday was mostly devoted to studying for the Biology test that was coming Friday. I read all the chapters covered except the genetics section which I felt I had the best grasp on. When Friday rolled around and the test did come, all the preparation came to naught. I did worse on this test than on the last. I read the book. I took all the quizzes at least once. I have attended every lecture. What the hell is the problem? As predicted I did well on the genetics questions. I didn’t do well on everything else.
Other than the Biology exam, Friday was a good day and the most productive one of the week. Michael and I got checked off on Project 8 for embedded, I got points back for a silly grading error on my first ECE lab exam, and I got a much-needed haircut.
Description
This is probably one of my last great desktops. You’ve got colors flowing together really well, a custom shell (Blackbox) with a shell style of my own creation—inspired by Simplicity for LiteStep by Omar Hussain—and an awesome wallpaper with a hot anime chick. What more could a guy ask for?
Credits
This week could have gone either way but as Friday comes to a close I think it has actually been a pretty good week. I had three major exams and several assignments due over the course of the week and it seems I managed them well for the most part. For the first two (ECE) tests I did quite well. For the third (Statistics), I dropped the class shortly afterward. I have never felt so lost in a class. It might have helped if I had realized that all the exams are open book! My Tuesdays and Thursdays are completely free now at least. Monday and Wednesday remain nasty and I don’t think my work load will drop much at all. I’m just staving off a potential GPA-killer.
This evening I went shopping for a few hours and picked up the new Rush compilation The Spirit of Radio: Greatest Hits 1974-1987. My poor luck with the local K-Marts continues as the one I tried this time was going out of business and subsequently didn’t have any of the new releases featured in the ad. Luckily, Best Buy picked up the slack by offering the same CD at the same price ($12 for the CD and a bonus DVD!). I also looked at anime DVDs but I couldn’t find what I really wanted in my price range. The number of works I’m familiar enough with to make a purchasing decision is still too small.
Speaking of which, I finished “Serial Experiments Lain” after stopping halfway through several months ago. It is harder than most to follow but the ending made up for it. I would buy the DVD set at a reasonable price but not at the amount I paid for “Trigun.” It wasn’t quite that good. I watched the “Rurouni Kenshin” OVA episodes and was pleased with those as well. Four episodes is a bit short but I think it’s actually supposed to fill in background for the monster 100+ episode TV series. Finally, I started the “Berserk” series which I’ve had lying around on my hard drive for a few months now. It has a very medieval gothic feel that is unique among the anime I’ve seen.
Titus and I headed over to the Georgia Tech Student Center to sample the new DDRMAX2 machine Saturday evening and we were pleasantly surprised to find that it’s now only $0.40 to play with joint premium. Even at the old cost of $0.60 it was still the best deal for arcade DDR I have seen. Compare that against $2.00 for doubles at the International Bowling Alley. When we arrived we had the machine all to ourselves but that didn’t last long. Soon there were about six other guys taking turns with us. Titus and I both tried our hand at doubles. It was my first time and as one might expect I played much the same as when I first played singles months ago. I think I did fairly well all things considered. Titus is slightly more experienced with doubles and he performed quite well on a few songs.
Finally, today is Singles Awareness Day, better known as Valentine’s Day. It doesn’t take on any new meaning this year for me. I did receive some very nice cards from various members of my family, which I appreciated greatly.
Description
This is mostly a showcase for another of my better Blackbox themes. It was designed to be used with the visual style of the same name as one might expect. I never published this desktop on the old site for some reason.
Credits
