I used to like reading Digg. However, as of late, whenever I peruse the site, all I see are a bunch of stories written by 13-year old kids about Global Warming and why the iPhone is the best invention ever. So, instead, I opt to read the source of most of the interesting articles that end up on Digg: Slashdot, Ars Technica, Engadget, and others.

I’ve come up with a general rule-of-thumb for measuring the quality of a news source: The quality of a new source is inversely proportional to the number of exclamation points that can be found on the front page.

For example, reading the front page of these sites nets the following number of exclamation points:

• Ars Technica: 1
• Slashdot: 3
• Google News: 0
• BBC: 0
• Digg: 24

It’s summer again.  No school. Just work.

This summer I’m working as a Software Engineer Intern at Garmin.  Since they’re very hush hush about their work, I can’t really elaborate on what I do.  I enjoy my job, it just takes some adjustment to get used to working for 8 hours straight.  I have more free time than I do during the school year, and I enjoy having large blocks of free time, I just have a hard time concentrating on one task for hours on end.  I’m used to working on something as long as I’m willing and then taking a break.

Another good point about work: money.  It’s nice to no be ghetto poor all the time.   But now I’m faced with a new delima:  On what should I spend my newfound wealth?  I’d like to get a TV so I don’t have to borrow Ian’s, but I’d really like to get an HD LCD or Plasma.  Those tend to be pricey, but the prices come down quickly so I’m going to wait until the end of the summer.  I’m also crazy addicted to Guitar Hero II, so I think that I’m going to buy a Xbox 360 and the game.  It’ll cost me about $500 total, but I think it’s worth it.

Yeah, I know. I’ve not updated this in a while. I’m just lazy. That’s all.

Well, that and all of the homework that I’ve constantly been doing. This has been my hardest semester yet. Programming Languages and Algorithms Analysis are not exactly easy classes. I’m learning a lot, but it’s not easy. Thanks to good ole’ OCAML, I know recursion like the back of my hand, and I’m developing a taste for functional programming. It’s nice for getting certain things done, but I wouldn’t want to write a graphics library using it.

Also, I’m getting better at proofs, but they’re not any fun. If I wanted to write proofs, I’d have been a math major. My favorite class: Microcontrollers. I like actually seeing tangible results from the code I write. I’d extrapolate on said enjoyment, but keeping with the theme of my post: I’m just too lazy.

As a happy side note: I was pleasantly surprised by the results of this week’s elections. I didn’t think the Democrat’s had it in them. They’re constantly snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, but this time, I suppose this time they just got lucky. I was also pleasantly surprised to see that Haggard finally got what was coming to him. That guy was an asshole. As Jon Stewart quite aptly put: “It’s a said day when you cede the moral high ground to a drug-dealing, gay prostitute”.
Ah, good ole’ fundamentalism.

That, and quality, non-rambling writing.

Why anyone would every buy from the campus bookstore is beyond me. I advise anyone who has to buy textbooks to go online and buy from half.com.

It’s an e-bay owned website that contains about every book known to man. I was able to find a book that I paid $100 for at the campus bookstore for $35 new and for less than $10 used from another student. A 90% reduction in cost! That’s insane.

Fuck you Varneys.

What is Your World View? (updated)
created with QuizFarm.com

To tell you the truth, I can’t wait to get back to Manhattan. I’m getting tired of work. I’m getting tired of getting up at 6:30. I’m getting tired of not being around all of my friends. I’m also tired of the appalling female prospects in my little corner of the state.

I know I’ll look back on this post about October and think: “Man, I didn’t know how good I had it.” But alas, such is life. You have to learn to live in the moment, rather than always wishing you were somewhere else, or doing something else.