Tuesday, September 30, 2008

We broke down and bought a new router to try and solve our internet woes. At first it didn't seem to do anything, but then Sam plugged the new router into our old on and then reconnected the computers to the old router. Somehow, and this makes absolutely no sense, it is a lot faster now. Perhaps the old G router feels inadequate next to his new N brother and is beefing up the signal to compensate.

Maybe they are in love and that love is projecting wonderful lovely router signals all over the house. Maybe in another hour it will suck again. Who knows?

Hypothesis:
A new, beefed up N router will undoubtedly improve performance over the old G system

Evidence:
Here's a table outlining the internet speed since Sam hooked it up. As a point of reference, 7000 is the level at which the signal is sent, but usually 1000kbps is lost along the way, making 6000 the best signal:

5:50 pm - 3307
5:50 pm (again) - 2446
5:51 pm- 3600
5:54 pm- 6646 (see bottom left of picture, indicating the last test results)
5:55 pm- 4518 (it dropped even more after I took that picture)
6:04 pm- 3779
6:11 pm- 2295

Then, at 9:31 pm:


Conclusion:
WTF?

Saturday, September 27, 2008

The Honest Truth

When he's not talking about math, Randall Munroe can really make me laugh.
Visit XKCD

I have awesome friends


Cincinnati, Aug 5, 2008
Originally uploaded by adark248
A pair of glasses we found on the ground at the Dave Matthews Band concert this summer.

This is how we roll.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Whistle While We Work

At work Saturday I helped put up the large metal bridge that extends across the stage in Ohio State Murders. It took about three hours to get the platforms up and bolted together. You can see how we secured each individual piece to the rail system and ran it up, locked it in place and then we worked underneath to bolt on the legs. Rinse and repeat. Needless to say those things were pretty heavy. They also had some sharp edges, which is how I cut a slice through my ring and pinkie finger on my left hand. I also nearly knocked my boss' eye out when the drill caught on the metal and wrenched itself out of my grip, swinging the chuck key a few inches past his head.


The set is huge. A lot more got done after I left on Saturday at about noon thirty. There's a dorm room nearly twice as big as any real dorm room, this bridge, two stair cases leading up to the bridge and a slew of steps, platforms and levels. I'm really interested to see how the choreography works with all of these steps and obstructions. I'm definitely going to try and see more plays this year.
I'll try and get more pictures throughout the construction process to document the evolution of a large-scale set.


Also please note the hardhats... riiiiight about here. The yellow/white/blue hats. Guess who had the honor of creating that lovely helmet holding area? Yours truly.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

I survived the Blackout of '08 and all I got was inconvenienced

Jesus H. Christ. The power was out for 5 days. I snapped some pictures throughout the week on my cell phone. Let's have a look-see:


Samantha being dissapoitned in the dark, followed by pizza on the grill. Those are individual sized DiGiornio's pepperoni pizzas you're looking at. Primo stuff. You can see the lovely coals glowing beneath them, some lawn detritus all packed up and ready for Rumpke. Those were the most disgusting pizzas ever. Sure they look good and they cooked all the way through... Have you ever had pizza that tasted like shrimp/steak/chicken/hamburger and burnt? I should have cleaned the grill first.

There was a riot/protest/party on campus during the blackout. I'm using the slash because your point of view determines how you label it. Over two thousand students convened on President Hodges lawn to "protest" class while most off campus students still had no power. The police showed up in riot gear and one girl told me she left because she "thought they were going to start throwing tear gas." It wasn't that bad, but the idea is haunting. It's a good thing they didn't try to take the crowd by force because then we would've had a full fledged riot in the streets. Imagine thousands of bored twenty-somethings raiding the liquor stores all over Oxford, cops on their segways weaving through the crowd tazing bros. Not a good image. Although a squadron of officers was sent to the liquor store in town. They were turning away thirsty scholars despite the fact that the store still had power.

Oh and also the post office lost yet another one of my packages, which means I'm going to have to eat the cost of sending out a replacement. So, all in all, this week was awesome.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Torndaic

When I woke up this...er...afternoon the wind was blowing like crazy-go-nuts. Actually, it's still crazy out there. Completely sunny and pretty nice, but the wind is howling. I went outside to move Sam's car, because branches were snapping off the tree in front and landing all around the hood. I'd safely estimate the wind at 40 MPH.


The closest branch is about 20 feet long. For some reason this tree will gladly shed it's healthy, leafy limbs, but that one dead one I want gone holds on for dear life. There's a thumping noise every time the wind picks up, like when a bird hits the window. I hope the wind isn't blowing birds off course and into a collision course with our windows.

Payback for those devious Windex Birds.


What assholes.


Thursday, September 11, 2008

You've Got Me On My Knees, Layla

The latest update on The Misadventures of Legalizing Layla:

Not working out. It's finally boiled down to the fact that I have to contact the Court of Common Please in Columbus about getting the title for my scooter. Uck with a side of uck. I did, however, discover that Ohio has updated it's title FAQ website, including information for people who have bought a motor vehicle from an individual in state/ out of state and were not provided a title. That's me. I guess I'll call the number and listen to whatever run-around their passing out.

In the meantime, it's back to Craig's List, this time searching for a buyer.

The latest update on The Misadventures of Classes at College:

Things seem more adventurous than unadventurous at this point, which is good. I got the job at the Scene Shop on campus making scenery for the myriad of theatrical productions. It's a sweet job: the hours aren't bad, the people are nice and I get to use pneumatic staple guns that "could easily pierce bone." That job simultaneously makes me want to build something and gives me the opportunity to build things. It's a self perpetuating machine, pure synergy. Also, I get to wear a hardhat, which can make anyone feel surprisingly important while standing in line at the water fountain.

Here's a view from the gallery at the Scene Shop. Don't tell anyone, I'm not supposed to be carrying my cell phone around, but the only personal storage space I have are my pockets. I was trying to get a feel for the scale by shooting the railing, but it didn't work. Those panels on the right are around 15 feet long, the gray platform is probably 20. Monica and I screwed the gray platform to the deck and then flipped the skinny platform to the left over top to create a step up. We only had to do it 3 times to get it right.

On the far wall is the Rail System. Those white ropes are attached to rails that run stage right to stage left and are suspended in the air, even higher up than the gallery. We can attach all kinds of scenery (or anything else) to the rails and raise and lower them into or out of view. There are numbered 1 to 37, 37 downstage closest to the audience, 1 furthest upstage. We have to know where the rail are because when someone lowers them you have to get out of the way. There's a call and response system. Whenever someone drops a rail they call out the number so people know which way to dodge, and everyone in the shop responds so the rail operator knows that the message was received. I'll just go ahead and say it: I have high aspirations of one day being tapped as Rail Operator.

The rest of the shop is about as big as the stage area pictured, but back behind the camera and behind a giant fire door that slams closed (and I suspect would kill anyone underneath it) in case a fire breaks out on stage. There's also a giant asbestos curtain that falls off frame right, at the end of the stage, in order to protect the largest number of people (for the theater department's sake, let's hope the audience) from the fire. Of course that curtain was installed a while ago. Chances are that the giant asbestos cloud that falling curtain would let off would probably kill the first 10 rows. Admittedly, though, not nearly as quickly or painfully as a fire.

If you're the kind of person who enjoys surviving potentially dangerous situations twice a week, is this a job for you.

I'm starting to realize I am that type of person.