Photo 339

You really know you are a geek when:

You have to go to the bathroom, and may be a few minutes, and you bring your laptop with you so you can keep working -- and you blog about it.

What can I say, I did not want to waste time just sitting here.

I should have brought headphones.

Ordinary Day

My morning class was cancelled. Good thing something told me to check my email as the notice was there and I was able to go home again.

I did some laundry and studied a bit for my Japanese Mid Term exam. Nothing exciting but I did not have to wait around all day on campus.

ལོ་གསར་

Losar: Year of the Female Earth Ox, 2136

Madness

Big Sit Vow

Body
I will restore my body by being a better vegan, getting more sleep and getting more exercise.
I will nourish my body by drinking more water, seeing a doctor and avoiding processed foods.
I will honor my body by losing fat, getting more fresh air and sitting properly.

Mind
I will work with my mind by meditating daily for a minimum of 20 minutes.
I will study the Genjokoan by daily reading, and viewing Enkyo Roshi’s dharma talks at community.tricycle.com.

Spirit
I will renew my spirit by walking and meditating in the forest and by the water.
I will strengthen my spirit by committing to daily practice.
__________________

• Sit in formal meditation for 20 minutes each day.
• Listen to one dharma talk each week on our community page (community.tricycle.com.)
• Study Dogen’s Genjokoan, the text selected for the period.
• [re]Commit to the sixteen bodhisattva precepts.
• Practice with others at tricycle.com or at a local meditation center.

The Big Sit

Organized by Tricycle magazine, a Buddhist magazine, The Big Sit is the second of its kind. What is it? It is a commitment, a retreat, for people, Buddhist or not, to sit in mediation, take or retake the Bodhisattva vows, listen to lectures, Zen in nature this time, and to read/study Dogen’s Genjokoan.

I retook my vows, shaved my head and plan to take my practice seriously again. A saying goes something like this:

It is easier to head to a secluded spot to meditate for years than it is to stay within the chaos of life and do the same.

Registry

My brother had managed to make a mess of his computer, again. I tried installing a couple of programs for him and could not because of two different directory errors. One was an invalid path in regards to the 'My Pictures" folder and the other could not find the 'My Music' folder. My Mom looked up the errors as I did not have time, and when she thought she found the answer she showed me. After glancing it over I agreed this was the answer. I knew what the problem was and what I need to do to fix it, I simply did not know how to get to where I need to be to fix the problem. I am MAC oriented, and am trying to catch up with Windows. When I finally got to the errors in the registry, they were so obvious. I added, deleted and re-wrote where I needed to and everything, relating to this problem, was fixed and I was able to install his programs.

Lee

A remarkable woman died yesterday. 85 years of life experiences kept her young and a pleasure to be around. Her son died a year before her and she stayed strong through this life change; if you did not know her you never would have known. She worked until a stroke took her from her demo job. To her working was not a chore but satisfying and kept her spirits high.

Strong.
Independent.

I am honoured to have known her.

Strangers

It does not matter where I am or who I am with when strangers start up a conversation with me. This happens all the time. These people talk to me about anything and it is as if, to them, that we have known each other for our whole lives, but I never know their names. Sometimes, like today, I do not know how to get out of these situations. I do not know how to walk away as sometimes they follow me.

I have similar experiences with animals. The worst is with guide dogs. They almost always stop to see me and I might even have to apologize to their owners when they come to a complete stop for no other reason.

Stress

What does one do in the face of mounting stress to the point you want to pull the rest of you hair out because you have so much to do and it is affecting every aspect of your life so not only are you not sleeping right your appetite for anything is gone but there is nothing you can do -- except maybe drink but then everything would still be waiting for you -- except get though it and hope you still have your sanity -- assuming you had any to begin with -- when everything is done?

Just remember to breathe.

Laughter

I went to visit my younger brother when I got home from school. I understand he did not have a great morning, but it did not show in the early evening. He was laughing so hard, he started turning red. I miss those moments as these are far too few.

missing

Another missed post,
another missed photograph,
another missed occasion,
another missed memory,
another missed day.

Personal (Portfolio) Statement

After 4 or 5 agonizing hours of trying to write about myself and why I want to be in the Media Studies department I have accomplished writing a rough draft. I have the second portfolio meeting tomorrow and we had to have these written or else we could not attend the mandatory meeting. I had a real hard time with this because I felt as though I sounded too selfish, saying something like, I had to do this for myself. It is true I really need to do this, get into the department, so I can take more advanced classes next semester. I am so nervous as I do not feel my work is quite good enough, but I know I can improve, and I am so incredibly hard on myself.

My Brother

My younger brother's birthday was on Tuesday, but his party was this afternoon. Some family, but mostly friends gathered at his house. I was surprised, somewhat, that there was no incident to speak of. I could not install his new computer program due to an error and thought this was going to upset him, but he was fine as he knew I would figure out how to fix it and do just that. The staff bought him an awesome cake with a fisherman in a boat on it -- he loves to fish.

I remember the day he was born, looking at the Polaroid of him, 25 years ago.

Requiescat in pace

David Borner
Died
Continental Connection Flight 3407 Crash
Clarence Center, NY
February 12, 2009

Problems and problems

Between the car and the weather, I do not know what is going to give me a bigger headache. Car was towed. I had to borrow my Mom's car and one of the worst winter storms hit this morning, just the morning.

I fixed my code for one project, wrote another program and have 3.5 programs to go. I can sleep in tomorrow, but still have a lot of work to do.

But, I did see Gran Torino (2008).

Fixed

I do not know why, when I have a problem I have to have the professor basically say "try again" or read out loud the error line in order for me to figure out what I did wrong. Hours I spend nearing the end of my coding rope and I either have to dream about the answer, a.k.a. sleep on it, or the above statement. After my MySQL/PHP class I was able to fix the uber-stupid mistake glaring at me and now I have "happy code".

AHHHHHH

Coding fustrations!!!

And Happy Birthday shouts to 

my younger brother and a good friend.

e

I forgot to post, again.

(TT)

Coding like a fool

My first project in MySQL/PHP has been assigned and I have a week to build it. This is a project combining all the exercises we have created so far into a Coat Store web shop. I do not know all the exact requirements yet, but there will be menus to choose different styles and sizes. I already have 90% of the current exercise coded. I have to finish the sort code to alphabetically sort the table headers I already created. Very exciting stuff!

Honesty

Guido: " I thought my ideas were so clear. I wanted to make an honest film. No lies whatsoever. I thought I had something so simple to say. Something useful to everybody. A film that could help bury forever all those dead things we carry within ourselves. Instead, I'm the one without the courage to bury anything at all. When did I go wrong? I really have nothing to say, but I want to say it all the same."

-- 8½ (1963), Federico Fellini

Click

I finally have the ability to create forms and have the "submit" button actually do something. Before this button was only clickable because I did not know how to write a program to handle the inputted information. Now I know a bit of PHP and can have results emailed. Yep, I am a nerd. and a very happy nerd at that.

* But this nerd forgot to post this entry yesterday. No one is perfect. *

Today's Fortune

"Our life is the creation of our minds"

This was the fortune inside my fortune cookie.
It got me thinking on how true this statement was.
"We" are not "our" bodies.

DMS 108

Film History:

Meshes of the Afternoon (Maya Deren, 1943, 14 min) - Silent
A Study in Choreography for Camera (Maya Deren, 1945, 4 min)
Visual Variations on Noguchi (Marie Menken, 1945, 4 min) - Original Soundtrack

The Hitchhiker (Ida Lupino, 1953, 71 min) - English/Spanish
Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio de Sica, 1948, 93 min) - Italian
羅生門 Rashomon (Akira KUROSAWA 黒澤 明 1950, 88 min) - Japanese
Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960, 90 min) - French
Memories of Underdevelopment (Tomas Gutierrez Alea, 1968, 95 min) - Spanish

"Truth is unattainable…you can’t give truth.
What you can do is reveal something to your viewers that makes them discover their own truth."
---- Michel Brault

Way to go Buff-a-lo

I went to the Buffalo Sabres v. Toronto Maple Leafs game tonight and the Sabres won 5-0!!!
I took photos (and some video) and will have to post them.

Presents

First off I came home to 稲荷寿司 (inari-zushi)!!! Win.

Second my stepfather bought 2, catnip filled, Valentine's Day themed cat toys for our children (and one for my brother's cat, Jasper). I could barely give them to our children without loosing my hand. Let me just say the toys were (are) a hit -- I have the video to prove it.

Python

I finally got my programs to work!!!!

I had to go see my professor during her office hours because the first 2 programs did not quite work. I was almost there, so close, and with a couple of changes -- presto. One problem was I did not know I could reference in the same line even if it was the first time (I do not know if that was worded quite right, but I know what I mean). I still had 2 programs to write and decided to try again on my own.

No problem.

So close

The Cardinals almost won.
I almost got the ice off the driveway.
I almost had too much to drink.
The day was almost sunny all day.
I almost finished the audio for class.
I almost figured out my programming homework.
I almost cooked noodles.
I almost had a nap.
I almost finished my coffee.

I might get to bed early.