Riftwave.net - Kevin's web log

I *almost* walked out of the bookstore with the 2005 GRE study book. Almost.

I started getting ready for the GRE with the 2003 kaplan GRE guide, which was graciously given to me 1 year ago by my old roommate, Brannon (as a moving gift, i suppose). The very first section I practice-tested on was the analytical portion (which is ironic for a reasons i shall reveal). The next step of my plan was to acquire a 2005 GRE study guide.
I went to the store, talked to a clerk who had taken the GRE, and subsequently picked out the Princeton Review’s guide. Everything was hunky-dory until I indiscriminately flipped through a few pages of it. What little I glanced whilst thumbing through was a run-of-the-mill breakdown and explanation on standardized testing techniques. I immediately started having second thoughts about plunking down almost $40 ($35, to be precise) for a workbook 90% filled with information that I already knew. The GRE is already going to cost $115, so I felt that my $35 might be better spent going towards payment for the actual test…. especially considering the fact that I already have a Kaplan 2003 GRE book. So I have decided to do the bulk of my preparation with the 2003 book that I already have (a standardized test is a standardized test… i’ve been taking them since grade school), and to peruse the 2005 book in the bookstore for any changes in the 2005 version of the GRE that I might need to prepare myself for.

As it turns out, the analytical section, which used to be multiple choice, is now an analytical timed essay. This means that I wasted a few hours on my first night of studying with the 2003 GRE book, but it also means that the analytical section will be a complete cakewalk. They rate the essays from 1-6. 6 being ‘ cogent, well-articulated analysis of the complexities of the issue and conveys meaning skillfully‘, and 5 being ‘generally thoughtful, well-developed analysis of the complexities of the issue and conveys meaning clearly. I expect to get either of those scores, though it does seem a bit arbitrary. My writing style has been lost on some of my former English professors, but usually due to their lack of effectively communicating the type of paper they were looking for. A score of 4 is for ‘competent analysis of the issue and conveys meaning adequately‘. I could probably do that in my sleep.

Just tonight I finished the quantitative (math) practice section of the 2003 book. The math doesn’t seem to get any more difficult than linear algebra. I am fairly certain that the testers will make the time constraint for this section a factor to help tweak (increase) the difficulty of this section. To me, it really seems like SAT/high school level material.

So, things are looking OK so far. I’m going to start hitting the vocab soon. I’ll probably start posting a lot more messages to message boards on the net to make my new-found vocabulary part of my working lexicon… but truth be told, i’m not afraid of word analogies either.

Hmm, maybe i’m being to cavalier about this whole GRE thing… have any of you folks taken it? Speak up! Send me an email or leave me a comment!

-kevin

P.S. Methinks there are peculiar things afoot with Aaron & Katie.

I have decided that I should take the GRE and give very serious thought to grad school. I’ve been job searching to no avail for 3 years, and I don’t want to keep wasting time not learning/going forward.

I’m not sure exactly what I want to study in grad school. I am pretty certain that I dont’ want to study pure chemical engineering (what my undergrad degree is in). It’s as challenging as any other major, but I think i’d like to branch out a little bit.

After that, i’ll try to figure out where to go and how to finance it…. but i’ve got to take the test first

-kevin

Has it been over a week since my last entry? Shame on me. I’ve been running my regular routine of going to work, but I have also been trying to spend all of my free time more wisely. I’m more active with perusing careerbuilder.com, ajcjobs.com, and a few other places I check from time to time. I have also gotten back into the habit of translating the Jingo Tensei (Vox Populi, Vox Dei) on asahi sinbum for some Japanese practice. For anyone curious, I use JwpCE, an awesome FREEWARE japanese word processor which is replete with a Japanese< ->English dictionary, and more character lookup tools than one man really needs. Whenever I get stumped, I use Babelfish to get me out of tight spots. I check my work with the english version of the article.

I would like to do something similar chinese (and I had actually started to), but there isn’t a freeware chinese word processor equivalent to JwpCE. The closest thing that I have found is zhongwen.com. A great resource for chinese, but progress is *much* slower when I use it for mandarin translations.

In other news… I had some spare hardware lying around, so I’m going dual monitor now. It took a little getting used to, but its very handy. Also, Aaron and his (now ex-)gf, Katie (chopped off on the very left) broke up. I don’t know all that much about them as a couple, but her moving off on her own when it was time for them to move suggests that it was on her mental horizon for a while. No matter, Katie’s friend Natalie-the-dancer ( isn’t really all that hot (or interested, apparently). I’ll live She has always seemed nice/considerate even in the face of less scrupulous^* co-workers of Aaron and mine. Here’s to hoping that things remain amicable.

-kevin

* - something i heArD thAt soMeone tried with her

I have a new roomate. Her name is Lucy. She has black hair and weighs about 110lbs. Lucy is a Great Dane. My roommate got her from a lady that rescues Great Danes from shelters. She is 16 months old (that is 11 yrs old in dog years), and a total pussycat. Insofar, she does what she is told, and doesn’t bark (unless goaded into it by Freddy, Reed’s mischeivous half-collie half-beagle mix pooch).

Lucy arrived here last night, so I haven’t spent much time with her. She’s already been housebroken and cage-trained, so there probably isn’t much for me to have to teach her. Its been very rainy here today due the remnants of hurricane Frances, so I haven’t taken her on a walk yet. The storm also knocked all the power at the gym out today, so we didn’t hold any classes. Great Danes reportedly need long, daily walks, so that probably means a lot of my time will soon be spent outdoors.

Scooby Doo was a Great Dane. I hope Lucy doesn’t act like him, though… I hate that cartoon.

-kevin

This weekend has been pretty eventful. I had Friday off, and spent most of it traveling to, and participating in a rehearsal-barbecue for Sarah & Tony’s wedding party. I wasn’t in the wedding, but I was invited nonetheless. The barbecue took place at a Lake Allatoona picnic spot about 15 miles north of Acworth! (For those of you who might not know, Acworth is the location of my bible study… which is an hour’s drive in normal traffic). I am not sure as to why that particular spot (Cooper Branch) was chosen… as it was a good 40 minutes from the wedding site… but the timing was poor indeed. The picnic was slated to start at 6PM.

In addition to having to fight with Atlanta Friday rush-hour traffic, there was a lot of extra added traffic on the roads due to labor-day travel, and more notably the evacuation of Floridians due to Hurricane Frances. I did entertain the thought of not going, but followed my heart (instead of rational thought) in the end. I tried to avoid I-75 as much as possible by taking side roads… I ended up saving time that way, but the trip still took 50+% more time than it does in heavy rush-hour traffic.

Sunday I taught a private lesson, went to church, came home, went back to the gym to teach another private lesson (that I had forgotten about), and then drove to Aaron’s place to help him move into his new apartment with Iffy. Moving was a slow process. Aaron hadnt packed much (anything), but he did recruit 3 of us, so he was able to make a dent in the amount of work that had to be done. After the first trip over to his new apartment, I stayed and helped Iffy move things from his old apartment in the same complex to the new one. Iffy was the complete anti-thesis to Aaron’s moving strategem. Iffy started off hot and repeatedly tried to stop moving stuff after 1 or 2 trips (his apt was a 1 minute walk away). Brian McGuiness and I had to bully him around a bit to keep at it for a while longer. In the end, we brought the PS2 over and ordered pizza while I played on Iffy’s bass guitar.

On Monday afternoon, I returned to Amli at Clairmont Rd to help Aaron and Iffy unload and move more of their things. The apartment looks quite homely, but is probably a tad cluttered. As I predicted the previous day, a few things were relegated to the porch, and a few others were given away. The bottom line is that the new apartment can’t accomodate all of their miscellaneous belongings, so it will be interesting to see what goes or gets stored.

Upon returning home later at night, I met a new roommate of my own (and Erik’s)…. but I’ll wait until tomorrow to write more about that (I’ll make some icons for these last 2 entries as well)

-kevin

My very eventful labor day weekend began with a late morning commute to midtown, Atlanta to tailgate with the old-harris-residents-football-tailgate. The game started at 1:00PM, and so the tailgate started at 10:30AM. I arrived around 11:10 and hung out for a while. Josh had given me his ticket, so I was also able to attend the game. I got a good look at tech’s new varsity squad, but I had to leave the game prematurely before the half in order to make to Tony and Sarah’s wedding.

I drove back to Roswell, and went to buy their wedding gift at the Kohl’s across the street from where I live. Kohl’s is a horrible place to be registered. First, the registry computer at the back of the store didn’t look like it was even on… then after the worker activated the screen for me, it couldn’t find the listing for Tony and Sarah’s wedding even though I put her name in perfectly. After a phone call to a groomsman (Aaron), and more finagling with the registry computer I found the correct wedding, and tried to print out the list, but the printer was off, so I had to reach into the cabinet and turn it on myself. Obtaining the registry list turned out to be much easier than finding anything listed on it in the store. I spent at least 15 minutes wandering around a 20′x20 kitchen area which was apparently designed an organized by an extremely inebriated chimpanze. I couldn’t find any of the kitchen/dinner items on the registry list. Annoyed (and running out of time), I located 3 other items in a different area of the store, which I luckily found fairly expediently (the monkey must have sobered up when it stocked the home accent items). After buying the items, I jumped in the car and sped off towards the wedding in Dallas… gifts unwrapped, running about 20 minutes behind schedule.

I arrived at the wedding just in time to see Tony & Sarah departing the altar (great, just great). Suffice it to say that the Ragsdale Inn (where the wedding was held) is a LONG way down a georgia road with lots of traffic lights on it. What mapquest said was a 9-mile distance turned out to be about 18 miles in reality. This is the second time that site has $#@@’ed up directions. I’m going to use Yahoo!Maps next time.

Sarah and Tony understood, and were cool with everything. The wedding was petite, probably about 30 guests in all. Kirk Bauer was in attendance. I’d gotten to talk to him at the rehearsal barbecue the day before (Friday), it was fun catching up. Also noteworthy of mention was the presence of Eric Wu of www.emotioneric.com fame as best man (yes, i’m somewhere on that site, but I won’t say where) , and Aaron Merritt as a groomsman. Laura Sassman^* (she is married and has a different last name now, but I dont’ know it), an old RA/CA from the dorm. The food was great and the air was festive. The DJ was friendly, if a little bit corny… but his jokes fit the mood (i suppose).

The newlywed couple are delaying their honeymoon until after Tony has more leave time. He’s a naval officer, so he has orders to carry out which preclude their immediate traveling. I guess the upshot is that Sarah Burgoyne-Carl (hyphenated!) will have more time to plan it out.

I told my mom about their wedding later on the phone, as she’d met Tony while he was living with me in college. Care to guess what her subsequent comments were about? Ah, moms are so predictable.

-kevin

I got one of the two posters that I won off ebay (I have yet to pay for the other one). A testament to my new-found-fandom, its a poster of No Doubt minus their brass/horns section. All I need to do now is buy a frame for it. I wonder if target has any good prices on poster frames.
I only meant to get this one poster originally… but in the course of my browsing and bidding I saw a pretty awesome looking Gwen poster, so I got it too (its the pink pigtails - rock on!).
NO. I’m NOT a fanboy Leave me alone! I’m going to go play ‘Spiderwebs’ on my bass.

Poster I just got - RockSteady	Poster I still have to pay for - Gwen

Remember the old Budweiser ‘Wassap” commercials that were such a big hit back in 2000? Well, at the time I was finishing out my last year of school at GT and cheering on the JV cheerleading squad. I stole a few hours from here and there and put this little animation together for the squad website. It was a big hit, and everyone that saw it thought it was hilarous. You’ll need flash player in order to watch it.

I found it while digging around on an old, failing hard drive. The floating Buzz icon for this entry is also some of my (admittedly basic) handiwork. Enjoy!

-kevin