Daily Thought Archive

I caught the garter!

Boston is a great place. But don't comment on the reenactor's costume. Don't even say words that sound similar to costume.

I'm all moved in... Kind of. Thanks for the pillow Steph.

I learned a new carburetor trick today. The Maxim is now officially synced. (Although I did switch the jets at one point...)

I guess some things never change. My first homework is due tomorrow morning, and none of the problems are done yet.

A professors serious advice: Give up all of your hobbies and activities except physics for the next year.

Not going to happen.

First day of class is complete. Not too bad so far. Trying to download my textbooks.

Miami is nice. The palm trees aren't as tall though.

You're killing me Cumberland Island Ferry Schedule. Also, Hi Beth :)

I learned the word microaggression during orientation today. Some of the "example phrases" seem totally reasonable. I hope I'm still qualified to be a TA.

Take that pilot mixture screw. It may have taken a professional milling machine, but I knew you'd come out.

I guess I was wrong.

Another bad thing to do while working on carburetors: breaking off the mixture screw in its bore.

PA Turnpike highway patrol sucks.

Something must be wrong with the economy when having debt is considered a good thing.

Todays observation: If you hand someone something with purpose, they will almost always take it.

I have officially deleted my facebook!

The heat wave appears to be over!

There is a family of thoroughly frustrating sentences that go, "kids just can't ... at that age". That's bull. The only reason kids can't do complicated stuff is because adults tell them they can't.

If you have a stupid question, ask it. That's why kids learn so much faster and better.

No question about it, dirty bananagrams is way better than normal.

First day of session two. I hope I like these kids as much as the last group.

When a great new discovery or invention is made, it is only a matter of time until someone asks, "How can we use this for a weapon?".

Family is awesome, but going to church south of the Mason Dixon line is not a good idea.

A quick criminal background check and I'll have a home for the next year. That seems like a long comitment.

I thought I had grown hopelessly attached to my cell phone, but I lost it today, and I think I'll do alright without for a while.

Going to the river is apparently also good for meeting cute local girls.

Jumping into water from high places is awesome!

The bummer about playing a lot of poker with the same people is that you always end up even.

How to give a good lecture: Know you shit really well, and don't stick to an outline.

Today I noticed that I haven't seen a lightening bug in about a year.

What I learned in orientation: The best way to learn something is by assimilation, not orientation.

Ways not to fix a motorcycle: open the bottle of scotch in the early afternoon.

I can't believe how humid it is in Ohio. I sweat more here than in LA.

Today's awesome person of the day is Philip Brocoum.

Today's awesome person of the day is Wayne Orndorff, my dad. Happy fathers' day.

Today's awesome person of the day is Krista King.

Today's awesome person of the day is Vi Hart.

Don't burn bridges without reason. But don't hesitate to burn them when you need to. Get Bent ACI.

Helping a friend with a computer is significantly harder when all the error messages are in Chinese. I wonder if average users feel that helpless interpreting error messages.

What a good last weekend. Sometimes life produces some weird timing.

I'm officially a California rockstar*. I guess I can go conquer another state now.

Writing a good exam is harder than doing well on an exam.

I guess every big relocation will have things that I'll miss like crazy and things that I'm glad are over.

If I wanted everyone and their favorite spambot to have my email address I would have given to them. Use the Bcc field for mass mailings!

The common attitude toward plagiarism is backwards. I would much rather someone see my work, think it was brilliant, and copy it than say or do some dumbass thing, and claim it was my idea.

I'm nearing the end of school. Let's see how long I can make it before I check out.

I interrupt pet-peeve week to bring you my memorial day message. On this day of romanticizing large-scale state-sponsored violence, please take a moment to remember the peacemakers of the world.

Things that annoy me part four: People who don't punctuate a sentence because it ended with a punctuated quotation.

Things that annoy me part three: People who use the sentence, "What would have it been?".

Things that annoy me part one: People who use the phrase "pet peeve".

How to tell if your techie friend is competent: Tell him/her your computer is slow. A real geek will help you clean out bloated software; a noob will suggest newer hardware.

Choosing what to do in the fall was way easier than choosing what to do last spring.

Check out this awesome comic.

I taught primary school in Guangdong, middle school in California, highschool in Pennsylvania, and now they want me to teach college in Ohio.

The problem with OSX users is that they want to drag-n-drop everything. Sorry guys, dragging resume.doc onto iMovie isn't going to magically make a feature-length film about your life.

Dear really good bass players, We know you're good; you don't need to play super fast parts for every single song. Sometimes a simple steady groove fits better. -everyone

Every time I see that package of adult diapers sitting there, it makes me curious.

So what is the correct number of spaces to put after the end of a sentence anyway?

Most commonly abused part of speech: pronouns.

How long can you sit in a Denny's while only buying a hot chocolate? Start the timer now.

This concludes definition week; I hope you enjoyed it. What other words were you expecting me to define that I missed?

Pleasure Reading - n - A common time-killing activity. The de facto standard before channel surfing was invented, now viewed as intellectually superior.

Foresight - n - The ability to make decisions based on their likely consequences - Friend of stability, enemy of spontaneity.

Tolerance - n - The feigned appreciation of another culture or demographic by one who wants to be perceived as politically correct. - A cheap and inadequate substitute for true appreciation.

Understand - v - To fundamentally know how and why something works. Not to be confused with the ability to predict an outcome or the ability to calculate an answer.

Racism - n - The belief that the way you treat a person of a different race should be based on anything other than their individual personality and actions.

Daydream - v - To invite spontaneous inspiration by becoming lost in thought, often involves temporarily forgetting the outside world.

Multitasking - n - The act of sacrificing quality in order to complete a series of tasks simultaneously.

My weird habit of repeating sentences to myself is proving useful for learning languages.

Dear Drew, I please pick me to come on down. I promise I'll jump around a whole lot!

Joshua Tree National Park. Awesome.

I can't believe the only cloudy day of the year is when the family is visiting.

What do using a microwave oven, anticipating test scores, and traveling at nearly the speed of light have in common?   They all make time slow way down.

Google translate is just the coolest most useful web app ever.

Question: How can you trim down a 2cm cube so that it fits perfectly through a 2cm square hole, a 2cm circular hole, and a 2cm isosceles triangle hole.

Answer: Hopefully without losing any fingers in the process.

I have my first real Chinese lesson tomorrow.

Now that I kicked the GRE Quantitative test's ass, I can get back to writing about dimensionality.

Yeah Indians! Keep up the winning. This is how we start a season.

When it comes to old or dying batteries, Epsom Salt is magic.

My stars have turned blue at ebay... Too bad I didn't get a bonus for that.

Lesson from the warrior dash: Be cautious taking an early lead on an unfamiliar course.

I just resurrected my third Yamaha Maxim. This is how I should be repaying my loan.

My latest hobby: Learning to program Atmel AVR microcontrollers.

Wicked is a wicked cool show. Kiss me goodbye I'm defying gravity.

Well, it's official; I am a suspicious dude. I got stopped by the cops again.

Happy Birthday Daily Thought! 26 March 2011 is the one year anniversary.

Nate's advice on my new motorcycle,

Carbs are like a needy girlfriend; You put a lot of work into them and then realize you should just get a new rack.

Dang ETS! I don't really even want to take the GRE. You better make it worthwhile.

Well, it's official, my sister is the favorite child.

Ahhhh, I just found out that The Hold Steady preformed at Calvin when I was there and I missed it! How could I let that happen?

It seems like canceling class with two hours notice is a little short. I guess I shouldn't have any trouble getting the 29th off.

But I did manage to sell a harp for $3,000 on ebay.

My motorcycle didn't make the reserve price. This is the first time one of my ebay items didn't sell.

I got stopped by the cops today... while walking. I guess I'm just a suspicious looking dude.

I guess LA does have smog sometimes. Still,

Ahhhh, Honda! Think when you build your bikes! Come on.

Sunday Routine: Teach a lesson about electromagnetism, Fix an ignition system. Physics is awesome.