I thought I would take a moment to mention to you that I am much, much better at Snood than michael.  In fact, while my top score may not be as high as some other people's (read: people who waste their lives playing video games) high scores, it is more than adequate to dominate in suite 2020. 

If you think you may be better at Snood than me, please email me your top score.  The person with the highest score above my high score will awarded a randomly chosen, but very awesome negative273-approved prize.  [Disclaimer: Only scores obtained in the Medium, Hard, or Evil difficulty levels will be accepted.  The winning entry will have to verify their high score by emailing me a screen shot of the high score list from within Snood.  Please do not send a screen shot until requested to do so.]

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 24 April 2001 at 1:15 AM

Thanks to everyone who entered my contest in the past few days.  I'll be contacting the winner tonight or tomorrow to get your postal address so I can send the prize out.

Yesterday and today have been blissfully free of work.  (This will come back to haunt me later, I'm sure.)  On Saturday I slept late, and then made a brief appearance at the Thurtene Carnival with Chris.  (As I type this, the members of the Thurtene honorary, who put on the carnival every year, are driving around the South 40 honking there horns, yelling, and drinking from what look like open containers of alcohol.  I am not amused, and can only hope that they get arrested.  That open container thing is illegal, right?)  I have no memory of what I did after getting back from Thurtene until about midnight when Mike Eiseman dropped by the suite.  I can only assume I was hanging out in the suite between these events.

Today I again slept late.  After discovering that Sunday afternoon television leaves a lot to be desired, I persuaded michael to go to Suncoast Video and Best Buy with me.  At Suncoast we got the two new Escaflowne videos, which we just finished viewing.  After buying the videos at Suncoast, we went to Best Buy where I looked at CDs (I ended up buying a New Found Glory and a Guster CD) while michael played a Pokemon game on the N64 they had on display.  We then ate dinner at the Olive Garden and came back to the suite, where I've been ever since.  All told, an exciting weekend, at least when compared to my typical weekend of doing homework and eating at the Bear's Den.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 22 April 2001 at 10:40 PM

immortality ring experiment - day 2:

rings uncomfortable.

strange dreams again (involving an enormous mammoth upon whos back vegetation grew and animals lived, and being fired upon by automatic weapons).
no noticeable change in feelings of vitality or health at this point.

Comments: 0 Posted by michael on 22 April 2001 at 2:00 PM

immortality ring experiment - day 1:

during the course of the night, one immortality ring fell from my finger and was found on the floor the next day.  (left-hand ring will be tightened for future trials.)
unrestful sleep; angry dreams (involving school, ex-girlfriend, and ex-best friend).
no noticeable change in feelings of vitality or health at this point.

Comments: 0 Posted by michael on 21 April 2001 at 4:45 PM

to my delight, I received in the mail today my free pair of Alex Chiu's patented "Immortality Rings."  my thanks goes out to all of the readers who clicked the link and helped us to earn the complimentary rings.

as a special negative273 feature I will be wearing the rings to bed every night until I am immortal (or until I get tired of sleeping with uncomfortable plastic rings on each pinky) and reporting on how I feel each day as result.

Comments: 0 Posted by michael on 21 April 2001 at 2:13 AM

Chris, michael (who you may know through his occasional posts to this site), and I saw Josie and the Pussycats tonight.  It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be.  While the movie was very unrealistic and, at times, somewhat fantastic, it certainly kept me entertained.  In addition to the title band, the movie featured a boy-band rip-off called DuJour, with their hit song "Backdoor Lover" (which sounds a lot like *NSync would sound if they sang about anal sex).  It's worth seeing the movie just to see DuJour, but the rest of the movie delivers as well.

The code-phrase Alan Cumming's character used to order the pilot of DuJour's plane to crash was "Chevy to the Levy."  I'll give a wonderful -273 prize package to the first person to correctly answer the following questions related to this phrase:

• What song is this phrase from?


• Why did the producers chose this phrase in reference to the crashing of a plane carrying a music group?


• Would the singer/songwriter who wrote the song this phrase is from support it's use in reference to a plane crash?

Please email your answers to me at david@negative273.com.  If no one answers all of the questions correctly, I'll award the prize to the person who answers the most questions correctly, with ties decided based on submission time.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 21 April 2001 at 1:40 AM

Last night I dreamt that Dr. Sally Goldman (not to be confused with her husband and fellow CS professor Dr. Ken Goldman) was my orthodontist.  I went to her office on the fifth floor of Jolley Hall, expecting to talk about my CS527 homework set.  Instead, I was anaesthetized, and while I was unconscious, she removed my braces.  When I woke up, she tried to get me to use a digital camera to make a website for her.

If you know how to interpret dreams, please explain the part about the digital camera and the website to me.  I think I understand the rest.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 19 April 2001 at 5:04 PM

Cognitive Science paper: done (thanks to some help from michael).
Compilers lab: changed to extra credit by the professor.
Econ test preparation: let's not talk about it.
Outlook for this weekend: better than I thought a mere hour ago, but not as good as I had hoped it would be.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 18 April 2001 at 11:00 PM

dave has threatened to change the password to the site without my knowledge and begin posting with my name unless I begin posting for myself again.  right now.  he stipulated that I had to do it from his computer so that he would be able to make sure I actually post.  so that pressure, in addition to the deluge of emails begging and threatening me to post again, has forced me to return from sabbatical.

but now that Im back, Id like to draw everyone's attention to the new link Ive added up top.  I spent a while last week helping this girl I know get her website off the ground.  its been up and running for about a week now, and its already incredibly successful.  her post length and frequency defies explanation.  you should go check it out.  yeah.

in other news, just you try and "open frame in new window" on our website.  go ahead.  thats right.  you cant anymore.  our days of "stealth redirection" are over.  for the last few days our dns information has been steadily propagating, spreading across the world to every dns-computer-thingie.  and the change is nearly complete.

we are hardcore now.

Comments: 0 Posted by michael on 18 April 2001 at 3:22 PM

My horoscope in the paper today says, and I quote, "Some accuse you of being in the playground of the occult."  Please send any and all accusations here.  Thank you.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 18 April 2001 at 1:00 AM

I've just finished registering for classes.  I'm currently enrolled in classes totaling 18 credits, and am on the waitlist for another 3 unit class.  I will have to prune some of these courses from my schedule, but I can't do that until I find our if I'm going to get into the Robotics class that I'm on the waitlist for.  And who knows when I'll find out about that.

In other exciting news, this is my 14th post in a row here on -273 with no distractions from michael.  It almost feels like I've duped someone into paying half the webhosting fees for a website they are not even a part of.  Perhaps the groundswell of support he got after my post on 14 April asking for people to email him and ask him to resume his posting will persuade him to take up the yoke once again.  Then again, maybe it won't.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 17 April 2001 at 12:34 PM

Welcome to the new and improved negative273.com.  I'm aware that the site looks and feels exactly the same as it did before.  I assure, however, that the site is very, very different.  Well, at least kind of different.  It's not really different to you, but it's different to us.  Well, it's really not at all different, I guess.  But it is being hosted at a new location.  A powerful location.

That's right, -273 has grown up.  We've left behind the CEC servers and the stealth redirect from mydomain.com.  (If you are still viewing this site inside a mydomain frame, that means the DNS change hasn't propagated to you yet.  Within the next 24-48 hours, everything should be okay.)  Our new webhosting solution gives us a great deal of flexibility to upgrade our site.  While you, faithful reader, will probably not notice any of these changes to the site, we, your hardworking site creators, will definitely benefit from these changes.  And since just about everything we do is geared toward making our lives easier, this works out well for us.

Unfortunately for you, because our webhosting is no longer free, we must now charge you for viewing -273.  We've calculated that you owe us $4.53/month.  This figure is based on your individual viewing habits over the past two months.  In the coming months, the fee will be revised based on your viewing habits.  Because we have no way for you to pay us online, we request that you send checks to the following address:

Sock Monkey
Washington University
Campus Box 3518
6515 Wydown Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63105

We've put the sock monkey in charge of our finances here at -273 (he graduated from the b-school, so he should know something about this), so you should direct any inquiries to him.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 17 April 2001 at 12:19 AM

This is, I believe, my twelfth post in a row here on -273 with no posts from michael.  I really don't know why he is unable to write anything.  I can only assume that he no longer cares about this site or you, our (relatively few) faithful readers.  So, how can we get him to resume posting?  I've had a few ideas, most of which involve going into his (conveniently unlocked and wide open) room and stealing things, which I will then ransom to him in exchange for posts.  However, I'm afraid that this plan will only lead to anger on michael's part (with a possible side-effect of me making some money pawning michael's possessions), so I don't thin this is the plan we should employ.  Instead, I think we should guilt him into posting.  So, with that in mind, I would like everyone who wants Michael to resume posting to send an email to zero@negative273.com.  Hopefully, as the email messages pour in, Michael will realize how many people he is letting down, and resume his (sporadic) posting.

[An interesting side-note to all of this is that -273 has been getting more hits since Michael stopped posting then it ever did before, even during his brief attempt at posting every day.  So the question is, are we getting more hits because michael has stopped posting, or because people are checking all the time to see if he has finally gotten around to posting?]

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 14 April 2001 at 11:19 PM

There appears to be a premium placed on black computer peripherals.  Since my new computer is black, I feel like I should purchase some black peripherals to accompany it, but they are very expensive.  Plus, they're very hard to find.  Nevertheless, I will continue in my search for an inexpensive, black floppy drive.

Well, I'm off to my grandmother's house now.  I'll update again when I return.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 14 April 2001 at 3:29 PM

Good evening.

Perhaps you've noticed that I've been talking about my new computer a lot recently.  I'm really psyched about it.  Unfortunately, I'm so psyched about computers in general that I think I've been bitten by the buy-stuff-for-my-computer bug.  This can only be a bad thing, given my current financial state.  Fortunately, I can't think of too many things to buy.  Except a new keyboard.  And maybe a 19" monitor.  Perhaps a DVD player would be nice, too.  Hopefully I'll be able to afford some of these things this summer, when I will be making a bit of money.

In other news, Bulbasaur says "hi."

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 13 April 2001 at 11:01 PM

The hard drive from my old computer has been hooked up, and I have been busy copying essential files from it to the new hard drive.  Later this afternoon I will repartition and reformat the old drive.  Then I'll put the sides back on the computer and I will be all done installing things.  This turned out to be much easier than I thought it would be.  Starting off with a new HDD really makes things go a lot smoother.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 13 April 2001 at 11:36 AM

Have you ever wanted so desperately to put something out of your mind that it comes to dominate your thoughts?   Have you ever wanted to stop dreaming, because when you wake up you realize that, no matter how pleasant the dream, it was actually a nightmare?   Have you ever had a imperfect future just in front of you, but been so caught-up in your perfect present that you didn't realize it until your present had become that future?

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 12 April 2001 at 12:36 PM

My new computer is 90% complete.  In fact, I am posting from it right now.  I still need to move the hard drive from Feynman (my old computer) to this as yet unnamed computer, but I have all the software I normally use installed.  Speaking of computer names, I don't have one picked out yet.  If you have any ideas, please email me.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 12 April 2001 at 10:19 AM

The motherboard I ordered from TigerDirect came via Airborne Express today (it only cost 1 cent more for next delivery vs. UPS ground).  Thursday night and all day Saturday will be devoted to assembling the computer.  Because I have so many components, I will first build the new computer in a crippled state.  This will allow me to keep my current computer as is until I am sure everything is alright with the new one.  Then, after a few days, I will disassemble this computer, and put what I can into the new computer.  I hope everything goes as planned.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 11 April 2001 at 2:18 PM

I spent five hours on one homework problem tonight.  It was especially frustrating because I was just doing the same thing over and over.  I wasn't learning any new material, I was just using the same rule over and over, ad infinitum.  It's really frustrating to be doing work just for the sake of doing work;  I would prefer some other form of motivation.  Well, back to work I go.  I just hope the other problems don't take as long as the first problem.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 11 April 2001 at 1:18 AM

One of reasons why I hate Bon Appetit (aka WashU food people).

1.  Tenders and Fries from the Bear's Den: $5.53
2.  Tenders, Fries, and a beverage from the Bear's Den: $5.47
3.  Odds that I will be able to talk the Bon Appetit employees into charging me $5.47 for item 1: 0.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 10 April 2001 at 12:43 PM

Due to popular demand, the proprietors of -273 have slightly modified the header to our posts.  Although we thought it was relatively easy to differentiate between our posts, given clues such as our individual punctuation styles and the spelling of am (ayem) and pm (piem), we try to serve our readers, so the new header style has been implemented.  Please send any feedback on this change here.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 9 April 2001 at 10:38 PM

My computer has been acting strange recently.  The webcam software, which ran perfectly for more than a month, now crashes with regularity, and it's been ages since the shutdown has worked correctly.  In the past week or so I don't think my computer has loaded Windows without running scandisk first.  All this general strangeness has finally motivated me to put together a new computer.  I have all the components except a motherboard, which I will order tonight.  Hopefully I can spend this weekend getting the thing together and getting all of the kinks worked out.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 9 April 2001 at 4:16 PM

I had a nice relaxing weekend.  Perhaps my best weekend in months.  On Friday afternoon, I drove south to Sunset Hills, picked up my grandmother, and we went to Evansville.  We arrived a few minutes after 4pm, and by 5 I was on my way to the Two Brothers Chinese Buffet with Jared and Luke.  After dinner we drove over to Eric's house and picked him up (he had just gotten into town from Purdue), then we drove around for awhile and went to Denny's.  After staying at Denny's for a bit, Jared drove all of us home.  All this took about seven hours.

Saturday was much like Friday, with the following changes.  We ate at Shyler's instead of at Two Brothers, we stopped at the go-cart track twice (the attendants weren't very attentive, so we were slamming into the other drivers -- an event that warranted a return trip), and we went to Steak 'n Shake instead of Denny's.  Oh, and part-way through the night we replaced Eric with John.

On Sunday, I had lunch, then grandma and I drove back to St. Louis.

Doesn't sound all that fun, does it?  Well, I don't know why I enjoyed my weekend so much, but I did.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 8 April 2001 at 11:55 PM

seventy nine degrees, mostly cloudy, winds southeast 10 to 15 miles per hour.
your windows open, your music up, youre going out. 

days like these make it easy to just let winter end.

Comments: 0 Posted by michael on 5 April 2001 at 5:13 PM

d:  Im voting you out of the suite
m: what?!d:  yeah.  we need more space.  you can live in the hall.
m: but.. why not scott?
d:  scott provides all the furnishing in the common room.  the tv, the vcr..
m: oh.  ..am I the weakest link?
d:  you are.  goodbye.

Comments: 0 Posted by michael on 4 April 2001 at 11:34 PM

Yesterday was the big ACM Programming Contest.  It did not go as expected.  The problem that Joe came up with was so large that no one actually finished in the allotted time.  Consequently, the deadline for submitting a solution has been extended to 11:59pm Friday.  I wonder if anyone will actual submit something.

In other nerdy, ACM-related news, I am going to buy a book about the Apache web server today.  Hopefully, I will learn enough from it to be able to move the ACM website to our new server (acm.wustl.edu) later this week.  I hope all of the CGI stuff transfers over with no trouble.  I'm guessing I'll have to edit all the scripts to point to the new address, though.

Chris tells me that the 431 lab takes less than an hour to do, so I'm going to get some lunch and work on that for part of the afternoon.  Then I'll go buy the Apache book at the Library, Ltd.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 3 April 2001 at 1:21 PM

I went running for the first time this semester.  I ran from my dorm (Nemerov, if you care)over to Forsyth, down to Skinker, over to Wydown and then walked back up to the 40.  I think I heaved up my lungs somewhere around the corner of Skinker and Forsyth.  I probably could have run a bit further, but my (brand-new Visor plugin) MP3 player switched to a rather downbeat song right when I turned onto Wydown, and I lost all motivation to continue running.  When I next go running (either tomorrow of Tuesday, depending on how long the programming contest takes tomorrow night) I'll load some very fast-tempo punk songs onto the MP3 player and see if I can go a bit further.

Chris Hill says you should visit AlexChiu.com.  "It is highly recommended."  I think he just wants to steal the Alex Chiu Immortality Device we will receive for free once forty people click on our link to AlexChiu.com.  (Please click.  I want to live forever.)

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 2 April 2001 at 1:11 AM

I spent that vast majority of this weekend hanging out (and evaluating) eleven high school freshman who were competing for about $16,000 (per year) of scholarship money (all eleven were guaranteed half tuition, but only six will get full-tuition plus a stipend).  I had a really great time hanging out with the finalists, and I didn't have to use my meal plan all weekend (until this afternoon, I hadn't used my meal plan since Thursday around breakfast time -- you know, about 3:30pm).  Anyway, on Saturday the contestants had to do a group project and I was one of the eight students who had to rank them based on how they worked in a group (my vote was 1/28th of the overall tally for who gets the scholarship).  It was really tough to rank them.  Especially since I got the impression they were all a lot smarter than me.  Certainly smarter than I was as a high school senior.  I'm really curious to see who gets awarded Langsdorf (full-tuition) scholarships.

On Saturday night, all of the finalists plus all of the current scholarship holders -- about 40 in all -- went to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory on Laclede's Landing and then Rich Unger invited everyone over to Mr. Loft.  I played hearts with Chris Hill, Chris Hackmann, Miranda, a couple of the finalists, and a few others -- eight in all.  The rest of the merit people watched Tron, a movie I should probably rent at some point as its a computer move I've never seen.  Mr. Loft is very nice.  It's huge(5,000 sq. ft., most of which is in one big room), got a freight elevator, hardwood floors -- it's awesome.  Should you ever find yourself on the Mr. Loft mailing list (like me) and get invited to a party, you should definitely go.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 1 April 2001 at 11:47 PM

I hate trying to post when theres nothing to post about.  Ive been typing and deleting things for the last ten minutes or so, actually, and I still havent come up with a suitable topic.  and I really should be cleaning my room right now, anyway, so maybe Ill just give up on this post and try again tomorrow.

incidentally, Im having trouble with my other website, too.  I am finding myself in something of an angst drought.  and consequently I just have nothing suitable to say.  I suppose I can fall back on things I wrote before, but that will only last so long, so I hope something bad happens to me soon.

Comments: 0 Posted by michael on 1 April 2001 at 6:05 PM