conquering the world one oxymoron at a time
Archive for random
January 26, 2006 at 1:56 am · Filed under random
what’s hot: silver cuff links ==> what’s not: gold chain links
what’s hot: shaggy hair ==> what’s not: back hair
what’s hot: shirt top button undone ==> what’s not: button-fly undone
what’s hot: cheese & wine ==> what’s not: cheesy lines
what’s hot: gazpacho soup ==> what’s not: gaucho pants
what’s hot: tall physique ==> what’s not: tall ego
what’s hot: stitch photography ==> what’s not: stitched-up knee
what’s hot: brainy wit ==> what’s not: brainless twits
what’s hot: dreams coming true ==> what’s not: waking up to the truth
December 26, 2005 at 8:35 pm · Filed under random
After 23 years, I finally got my ears pierced. I had second thoughts when I woke up this morning, and more hesitation even as I walked through the mall looking for Claire’s. In the end, I signed the forms, sat in the chair, and just did it. My mom was freaking me out beforehand, telling me how that it hurts like the mofo. In the end, it did hurt, but nothing ridiculous, not even close to getting a shot from the doctor. Now, I feel anxious. I can’t wait until these starter studs can come out (6 weeks); that’s when a whole new world of consumer products will be opened to me. Never will I walk by an earring stand, uninterested, again.
November 30, 2005 at 12:54 am · Filed under friends, random, grad life/MIT, daily grind
My friend Clement left for Beijing today for 1-5 years. He will be leading the entire Microsoft XBox 360 team in China, aiming for a Dec 2006 (or at least that’s what they tell the media) console release in the land of Mao. This comes after only working for Bill Gates for about a year. Makes me feel like an idiot … I mean, I’ve been going at this grad school thing for the same amount of time, and it’s taken me nowhere; I may have even gone backwards.
This one here is for Ali, courtesy of one Italian dude in an Ireland pub near the cliffs by the sea across the atlantic. May we both still get a kick out of this when we’re old and gray, and still admiring Latin men. Latin, Italian … men … same thing.
Govies rejoice! Annual reunion in Hartsville Tuesday, 12/27 at 4pm, with get-together chez LSR beforehand in Bennettsville. Non-2000’s are welcome too, I’m sure. here’s the evite.
I got 4 facebook invites in one day. I must be getting popular, or something.
It’s not been a good autumn for relationships. Three 2+ year relationships ended in the past couple of months. Love’s just not in the air. For once, I can honestly say “I know how you feel.”
Tim Tams are Australian versions of heaven, even if they call them biscuits over there. I’m saving my last Tim Tam (courtesy of Liang) to try the “right” way of eating one: sucking coffee through it like a straw. Those silly aussies.
The National Zoo in DC has a PandaCam, where you can observe the giant panda exhibit, to which a baby panda was added this summer. Don’t forget to check out Panda Cub Photo Gallery. my personal favorite is image #10.
I have to remember to ground myself before I touch the metal door handle in my office every single time that I go to open the door. I’ve never been shocked so much and so consistently.
A post-doc who shares my office told me that she once knew a guy whose PhD thesis was on how to detect pregnancy in pandas through analyzing panda poop. Her words of wisdom: if you ever think you’ve got it bad … think about how much worse it could be. You could be analyzing panda poop for your thesis.
According to my friend Jason (and I’m paraphrasing) … just live life! have a fling with somebody. no biggie.
November 14, 2005 at 11:19 pm · Filed under random
in no particular order, but rather the order in which they come to mind. Also, i’m sure this will be a list to be added to …
– guinness is freaking delicious
– karma is bad, dharma is good. Overall, we have a heck of a lot of dharma.
– italian men are really assertive
– the city bar scene is really the same as the US
– pudding has meat in it
– the hardest part about driving on the left side of the road is gauging the width of the car
– it takes 3 hours to drive across the country
– the Irish also love 80s music
– they also listen to country music
– there really are a heck of a lot of sheep … and cows, and sometimes horses, but mostly just sheep
November 9, 2005 at 1:32 am · Filed under life thoughts, random, grad life/MIT
I felt especially worthless these past 24-30 hours, so worthless (and now obviously so bored) that I decided to chronicle it so that i can later look back and say … golly, my life was really pretty lame back in 2005.
Monday:
9pm - buy milk and see that laundry room is pretty empty
9:30pm - bought some ice cream too, forgot that i wanted to do laundry
10pm - remember that i wanted to do laundry, but all machines are now taken
10:05pm - start french homework while eating ice cream
10:30pm - finally some washing machines free up
10:35pm - finish french homework, decide that i have nothing really to do, so let me read a book while i wait for laundry … memoirs of a geisha seems like it could be good
11:00pm - put laundry in dryer, continue to read book, eat more ice cream
Tuesday:
12:05am - fold laundry
12:40am - finished folding laundry, decide to keep reading memoirs of a geisha in bed
3:05am - still reading
7:00am - finished chapter 27, not done with the book, but i’m finally feeling really exhausted and decide to go to sleep
10:50am - wake up just in time to make french class (11am-12pm)
12:15pm - come back home, eat some cereal for lunch
12:30pm - try to go get my skates sharpened at zcenter, guy essentially tells me no
12:40pm - decide that i’d rather finish reading memoirs of a geisha than go to lab
2:50pm - finish memoirs just in time for class (3pm-5pm)
5:15pm - at Star buying groceries for study break tomorrow, for making myself a brownie, and for getting some veggies so i can eat balanced meals, and to stock up on bacon
6:30pm - cook dinner
7:15pm - eat dinner while watching cooking shows
7:35pm - Jacque Pepin is an episode that i’ve already seen, decide to make brownies instead of watching tv
8:30pm - brownies taste good, but don’t look so good, but they’re moist and goo-ey!
9:40pm - leave for IM hockey game
10:26pm - fall (again) on the ice
11:05 - pretend not to be sad when saying goodbye to fellow hockey people
11:15pm - back in lab to do some work, since i chose to read memoirs earlier instead of going to work
Wednesday:
12:09am - too tired to work anymore, can’t keep my eyes open, decide to go home and go sleep
12:30am - toast some bread so that i can have liver pate for breakfast in the morning
12:41am - play my daily online sudoku
1am - take random pictures for blog
1:30am - write blog about my worthless day
November 6, 2005 at 2:35 pm · Filed under random
Here’s my complaint for the day because I keep seeing it, and it keeps making me crineg. I have noticed an emerging trend of dragging one’s jeans on the ground. However, today’s drag is not the baggy punk/grunge dragging of the jeans in the 90s. Today’s jeans are extremely form fitting, except the flair pant legs are just really really long.
The people who wear this style end up having their pant legs wrapped around the heels of their shoes, and these people literally walk ON their pant legs. On a sunny, dry day, this is a only source of annoyance for me. I see it, I shake my head, I move on, I forget. On rainy, wet days however, these create major sources of CRINGE for me. I wrinkle my nose in disgust when I see someone dragging their jeans on around their shoes. Their jeans are usually wet up to the knees and covered in dirt that they picked up from the wet ground. Why are people subjecting themselves to this trend of dirty, uncomfortable wet jeans?
Here’s a random picture for show and tell, so you guys know what I’m talking about:
October 26, 2005 at 11:27 pm · Filed under random
I read this quote somewhere recently: “Why is it that when we are young we spend our health for wealth, and as we get older we spend our wealth for health?” Kinda made me think … am I spending my health for wealth? I think I’m spending my health for pleasure, whatever that may be.
On another note, I am utterly undecided about a halloween costume. I think this is the first year that I have truly cared about a costume. I sure as hell didn’t bother with one last year. I remember going to somebody’s party in Tang in wind pants and a white tshirt (Ed’s? Liangs? dunno …)
So this year, I want a costume that is nice, clever, recognizable, but not slutty. Nice as in looks nice, not dress up nice. I would also prefer to buy as little stuff as possible, because I’m cheap like that. I’ve got a couple of more days to think about it …
September 11, 2005 at 4:46 pm · Filed under random
wahooswu (4:17:11 PM): i need to buy a wireless card for my pc
paulbui (4:17:14 PM): yeah
wahooswu (4:17:25 PM): but i don’t really know what’s going on
paulbui (4:17:36 PM): weren’t you a computer engineer?
paulbui (4:17:37 PM): hahah
wahooswu (4:17:40 PM): haha i know, it’s embarrassing
and the evidence that i’m a bad cpe ……
wahooswu (4:19:55 PM): are there any weird specs info i should know?
paulbui (4:20:06 PM): nah
paulbui (4:20:12 PM): 802.11 b/g
wahooswu (4:20:18 PM): so every card i buy will likely work with my computer & with the mit network?
wahooswu (4:20:23 PM): i’m scared
paulbui (4:20:25 PM): it should
wahooswu (4:21:16 PM): here, i’ll send you the link to the one i’m looking at
wahooswu (4:21:25 PM): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833150006
paulbui (4:21:48 PM): oh, and all this time, I thought you were buying one for your desktop
wahooswu (4:21:57 PM): i am …
wahooswu (4:22:00 PM): see? i told you i didn’t know what i was doing
wahooswu (4:22:11 PM): so the one i sent you is not for a desktop?
paulbui (4:22:25 PM): the one you sent me is a pc card
paulbui (4:22:26 PM): hahah
wahooswu (4:22:32 PM): i suck
paulbui (4:22:36 PM): it’d work if your desktop has a pc card slot
wahooswu (4:22:43 PM): hmm … it might
paulbui (4:22:44 PM): but I don’t think it does
wahooswu (4:22:47 PM): haha ok
paulbui (4:22:51 PM): PCMCIA slot
paulbui (4:22:53 PM): not PCI slot
wahooswu (4:22:59 PM): i gotcha, i need one of those that has an antenna sticking out the back
paulbui (4:23:26 PM): yeah
wahooswu (4:24:09 PM): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833150004
wahooswu (4:24:15 PM): why does that one say notebook pcmcia?
paulbui (4:24:28 PM): b/c it’s another PC card
paulbui (4:24:38 PM): PC card is short for PCMCIA card
wahooswu (4:25:03 PM): so what do i need it to say?
paulbui (4:25:13 PM): not that
paulbui (4:25:14 PM): hahah
and still more evidence……
wahooswu (4:27:11 PM): what’s wpa?
paulbui (4:27:25 PM): wpa?
paulbui (4:27:29 PM): hahah
paulbui (4:27:34 PM): where’d you see that?
wahooswu (4:27:48 PM): there are 2 linksys ones … one is 50, the other’s $60
wahooswu (4:27:54 PM): one says wpa: no, the other says wpa: yes
paulbui (4:28:09 PM): encryption I think
wahooswu (4:28:23 PM): why was that funny?
paulbui (4:28:32 PM): Wi-Fi Protected Access
paulbui (4:29:00 PM): I dunno, I thought it was funny
wahooswu (4:29:22 PM): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833122119
wahooswu (4:29:24 PM): what about that one? it’d only cost me $30 after rebate
wahooswu (4:30:06 PM): the reviews are kinda negative
paulbui (4:30:19 PM): yeah
paulbui (4:30:19 PM): hahaha
paulbui (4:30:22 PM): I was about to tell you that
wahooswu (4:31:03 PM): i feel like a pretty failured comp engineer
paulbui (4:31:38 PM): and a pretty failured engrish speaker?
September 10, 2005 at 8:07 pm · Filed under random
I had to write the word “potatoes” for some reason today, and it got me thinking about that kid who got a spelling lesson from Dan Quayle. You remember that? How Dan Quayle corrected his spelling of “potato” and told him that there is a “e” at the end of “potato”?
Anyway, what if you’re that kid? Imagine the conversations you would have with people. You would introduce yourself to someone … and when there’s a lull in conversation, you’ll say “hey, do you guys remember when Dan Quayle corrected a kid’s spelling of potato?” And then you would say “I was that kid.” Can you imagine the responses that you would get with that?
I wonder where that kid is now …
This is really random, I know, but for some reason, I thought of it when writing “potatoes.”
July 25, 2005 at 11:37 am · Filed under random
My dad sent me another picture. This time, he was the one holding the camera; he took the picture in our backyard:
I also had a great weekend camping in Acadia National Park in Maine. We drove up Friday night, and came back last night. Of course, I forgot my camera again, so I’m waiting/counting on friends to hook me up with their pictures. so … photos coming …
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