Homework-free weekend

They don't come too often, but when they do, man, am I happy.

One thing is having homework and just plain not doing it (which I've done a couple of times). But actually knowing that there is no homework at all, I can even sleep at ease. The weekend automatically becomes more enjoyable.

Even though yesterday (when I forgot to blog btw) I didn't really do anything, cause I didn't sleep a single minute before going to work and by the time I got home from work, I was practically a zombie, so I slept all afternoon and woke up at around 9:30pm. Friday night/Saturday early morning was pretty cool though: movies, pool, Apples to Apples, poker, and pretty hilarious phrases all night long :D.

No sleep at all

That pretty much sums it up.

Flat tire

Yup, I got a flat tire today. Second time it's happened to me in the five and a half years I've owned my car. The first time that it happened though, I even bent the rim on a train track and the tire exploded, and that was a little over five years ago. I think that's a pretty good record haha.

Test

I have a test tomorrow...I have not studied.

I keep telling myself I'll study the next day...doesn't work.

A and I have a paper due on Friday...I have not started it.

I can already see myself doing it all tomorrow half assed...but then again, it wouldn't be the first time, I always roll like this :)

The Stand

By Stephen King.

That's the book I'm currently reading.

Twenty seven thousand paragraphs...that's one hell of a long book.

Been reading one or two chapters a day for three weeks and I'm only halfway through. I'm enjoying it though :)

Where's the cold?

I want to know!!! What's taking so long?!?!?!

I know, I know, it never comes this early. But at least enough reduction in temperature so that I don't have to sleep with the A/C on!!! Sheeeeeeeeesh!!!

Near kill experience

I almost ran over someone today.

I'm not making this up, but he was crossing the street as if he wanted to get hit by a car. He was crossing at just the pace that if I hadn't slowed down I would've for sure hit him.

And after I almost completely stopped he started walking a little faster to catch the car two lanes over. He was not successful, the other car  slowed down too.

Success

Doesn't it feel good when you finally, after so many days, do something that works just like you want it to work?

I had been struggling to make something work like it was supposed to work at my job for days.

I finally got it working today, I actually smiled :D

It's a script that automatically converts uploaded videos to a format that can be played almost everywhere and then it uploads the video to YouTube, pretty cool, huh?

A Secret Place

Well, not so much secret as it is "not frequently visited." (I was just referencing the Megadeth song).

I found these fire exit stairs in the back of a building at school where almost nobody walks through. It quickly became my goto place for passing time; maybe listen to a podcast, read a chapter of a book, or just stare at the sky and relax.

It's pretty cool cause by the time I get to school, the sun doesn't hit it directly anymore.

I am somewhat afraid of a pigeon crapping on me though...not that I've seen pigeon crap there...but all this staring at the sky makes me think so.

Screencast

Ok, it's up. You can hear the nervousness in my voice. Plus the bad quality, cause I don't have a proper mic, I used the one in the laptop. For some reason the screen is only in the middle of the video, but if you view it in full screen it's distinguishable. But anyway, I hope I get better at this with time :).

I'm thinking of doing a separate blog just for the screencasts and in spanish (cause the screencast is in spanish). Here's a link to the code in case any of you want to try it.

Here it is...

Video editing

It's harder and more time consuming than I thought. 2 hours editing a 17 minute video, damn!!! Plus one hour recording it.

I finally finished with my screencast...

I can honestly say it sucks balls. It's way harder than I imagined, talking to a computer is no easy task. It doesn't feel natural and listening to your own voice feels weird.

Nonetheless, I will continue doing them and it can only get better from now on. Hopefully more easily and a little better every time :)

It's rendering right now, I'll post it tomorrow.

Air Bud

Have you heard of those movies? A dog that can play basketball, football, volleyball, baseball.

I hadn't...but when browsing through Netflix, Diego and I stumbled upon them...

I nearly threw up just looking at the cover pictures. It amazes me how stupid people have to be to find that stuff entertaining...well, not really, we watched parts of them, you know, just to see how a fucking dog plays baseball, I mean, BASEBALL!!!

He looks absolutely ridiculous, it's an insult to anybody's intelligence. And he not only plays, apparently he's on par with the best professionals, he actually won the World Series. WHAT...THE...FUCK!!!

If anybody watched one of those movies in its entirety and genuinely enjoyed it, he/she shouldn't be able to vote...for anything.

Football

American football.

I don't follow the season closely. I mostly only know how my team (Packers) does every couple of weeks.

But when I wake up on Sundays, odds are that my brothers and father are watching a game in the living room, and sometimes I like to join them.

I know most of the rules, so I'm never wondering what the hell is going on. And I find it entertaining.

Having said that, I never would wake up early to watch a game, or watch a game by my own. Well, maybe the playoffs.

Floor art

Me and my friends went towhat seemed to be a job fair...but without the job offers, haha.

There were booths from several work places (mostly maquilladoras), and they explained what they did, showed their product and stuff like that.

Outside of the building where that was, there was a park of sorts, don't really know how to describe it. Anyway, in one part there were people drawing on the floor, and people were encouraged to do it.

One step closer

Today I went to take my picture and fingerprints for my Visa. It was a pretty fast and straightforward process, I did not expect that. I was prepared to spend at least a couple of hours in line.

Now hopefully, if nothing goes wrong, in a couple of weeks I'll be able to visit Uncle Sam again :)

Overly enthusiastic

Talking about Sophie, that little dog loving, animal noise maker, couch climbing, hyperactive, 4 year old girl...you know who I'm talking about, right Chuy and Angelica? After all, you two made her haha.

The entire time we were watching Toy Story 3 I couldn't stop hearing whoas, oh noes, hahas, ohs, Woody!!!, etc.

It was pretty fun though :D

Double content

I had previously posted about using a proxy to watch Hulu (cause it's only available in the US). I may have also mentioned that my brother used it to access Netflix before it was available in Mexico.

Well, now that it IS available in Mexico, I can use the same account and access both the US and the Mexico content by just activating and deactivating the proxy, which is awesome.

Some content is only available in one of the two, and I don't have problems with the language so it all works out.

I hadn't tried it cause I thought my account was only valid in Mexico, good thing it isn't :)

I'm going to watch "The Walking Dead" now that it's just been released on Netflix US

Battery drainer

In order for my phone battery to last all day, I need to turn off the 3g. Either that or always be in reach of a wifi network.

When I'm at home or at work that's no problem, I have wifi and don't move a lot.

The problem comes at school. They have a wifi connection. I always use it with my laptop without a problem. But for some reason when I connect to it with my phone, it becomes very unreliable. I'm talking lapses of even 10 minutes with no internet access.

If I turn on the 3g I have no connectivity issues but the battery gets drained super fast...the trick is to turn on 3g just to sync data every 20 or 30 minutes and turn it right off.

Smart phone battery management seems like a profession.

What does it take...

...to write movie/series subtitles?

I often ask myself that question. I've seen crappy subs too many times, as if the person writing them didn't really know what the writer meant and just came up with something him/herself.

Another aspect I often wonder about is how much freedom do they have to change lines or jokes that can't really be translated.

Maybe I just like translating...

Weaksauce

Played futbol with the family. I have an awful condition. And I hurt a knee. I had trouble going up the stairs.

I feel like an old man, my body is weaksauce.

Phrase

Going to bed

Perfect timing

So, I'm doing the finishing touches to the screencast I'm doing, and when I'm recording Twitter decides to fail (I use Twitter in the screencast)...

Steve Jobs...

...died today...

When I found out, I was shocked. It didn't surprise me, I knew he had cancer and wasn't in his prime health-wise, but still, it was a shock.

I'm not an Apple fanboy. The only Apple product I have ever bought is a 1st generation iPod nano back when it was just released. Nonetheless, Steve Jobs greatly influenced the technology world as we know it nowadays.

His work has inspired countless people to follow his steps and their dreams. He showed the world that if you really want to accomplish something and aim for it, you can make it happen.

One of the great minds in modern times...he will certainly be remembered.

And here's hoping Apple Inc. stays as strong as ever.

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life" -Steve Jobs

Mystery title

I don't usually see movies I don't know what they're about, less so movies I didn't know existed.

Today I did just that. I was browsing the Netflix catalog, and clicked on "The Big Lebowski," (I did know about that movie). After setting that it was dubbed, I stopped it and just clicked on the next recommendation, "Stranger Than Fiction."

That's the one I didn't know existed.It had a four star rating, so I figured what the hell...and it wasn't bad :)

Break over

Last week was the "Semana de Ingeniería" (Engineering Week) at my school.

No classes, just talks and presentations and stuff like that. But they're not good at all. The presenters don't really make an effort, and students don't really go to learn.

So I didn't go at all.

But now it's over and classes are resuming...

Eyes are closing

I'm trying to think about what to post, and my eyes keep shutting down.

It's weird, the only day I have to sleep as late as I want, and it's the day I get sleepy the earliest.

Went to play pool with a couple of friends. We were playing "retas" cause it was only three of us. Very cool and super fun night.

No computer for me

I'm going to try and sleep without the computer on every day. It's not good for my sight.

Instead I'll read...on my phone,  which isn't that much different cause it's still a screen, but I figure it'll be better (could be totally wrong though)

Today will be the first one :)