Well, thankfully I lost less sleep thinking about mini coopers than I did the previous two nights.
Here's my new favorite song. It's in Spanish by a Puerto Rican reggaeton group called Calle 13, but it's catchy and you might like it even if you don't know the words:
Yeah? You like? Te gusta? 你喜欢吗？
4.28.2006
4.26.2006
Mini Mania
I had to come home this afternoon to take a nap because I was so tired because I couldn't sleep last night because I had MINI mania racing through my head all night. I couldn't stop thinking about racing around town getting 35+ miles per gallon in a sweet old Mini Cooper with an awesome honda engine shoehorned into the bonnet.
After some more research, it seems this Mini with a Honda engine idea is not so novel after all. Car and Driver did an article (click here to read it) about a shop in Georgia (click here to go to their site and daydream) that has made a business out of doing precisely this. So it looks like my previous estimate of $15k is a little off. This place says that they'll build you a custom one starting at $20k. For that price, they find an old mini, tear it down, restore it, find a honda engine to put in it, install that, and install anything else you want to pay them to install. It's built entirely custom to your specifications. I'm pretty sure that I want one for my next car. Seriously.
I'm sure nobody that reads this blog cares about cars or anything, but hey, I can write about whatever I want to write about. Haha!
After some more research, it seems this Mini with a Honda engine idea is not so novel after all. Car and Driver did an article (click here to read it) about a shop in Georgia (click here to go to their site and daydream) that has made a business out of doing precisely this. So it looks like my previous estimate of $15k is a little off. This place says that they'll build you a custom one starting at $20k. For that price, they find an old mini, tear it down, restore it, find a honda engine to put in it, install that, and install anything else you want to pay them to install. It's built entirely custom to your specifications. I'm pretty sure that I want one for my next car. Seriously.
I'm sure nobody that reads this blog cares about cars or anything, but hey, I can write about whatever I want to write about. Haha!
New Obsession
So, the new thing that I started obsessing about today is, believe it or not, a car.
I want to get a classic Mini Cooper (the tiny ones, not a new one) very much like this one that I saw on evil eBay:
And then maybe for the sake of better power, fuel efficiency, and reliability, I would like to swap the engine with a Honda engine. It would be fast and fun to drive, fun to park, not something you see every day, and it might get close to 40 miles per gallon! Also, because it is so small, I would almost never have to drive people places in it because they wouldn't fit (the car fits inside of 10 x 4 x 4 feet dimensions!). I would guess that altogether for the car and the Honda engine and the labor to swap the engines the grand total would come to MAYBE $15k, probably less... Also, because it is such an old car, insurance would be really cheap. Yeah, it would be pretty freakin' awesome.
I want to get a classic Mini Cooper (the tiny ones, not a new one) very much like this one that I saw on evil eBay:
And then maybe for the sake of better power, fuel efficiency, and reliability, I would like to swap the engine with a Honda engine. It would be fast and fun to drive, fun to park, not something you see every day, and it might get close to 40 miles per gallon! Also, because it is so small, I would almost never have to drive people places in it because they wouldn't fit (the car fits inside of 10 x 4 x 4 feet dimensions!). I would guess that altogether for the car and the Honda engine and the labor to swap the engines the grand total would come to MAYBE $15k, probably less... Also, because it is such an old car, insurance would be really cheap. Yeah, it would be pretty freakin' awesome.
4.21.2006
Busy Busy Busy
I'm burried up to my chin in final papers and such, so the last think I should be doing right now is blogging, but alas, here I am.
Basically I haven't been doing anything fun lately because I've been too busy freaking out about the Political Geography paper that I have due on monday. Big semester final papers usually freak me out because I suck at writing them, but this one has me extra freaked out because it is worth a pretty significant portion of our grade and I got a D on the first test (and only test so far). Also, I have to get at least a C- in this class for the International Affairs major. I've been getting pretty good grades in recent years, but this class is, um, not going so well for me. Sooo I need to do pretty well on this paper.
Also on monday, I am supposed to either turn in my final paper for my American Foregin policy class, or take the final exam. I've been planning on doing the paper because it will give me more time to think about what I'm saying and hopefully do a better job, but now I'm thinking that maybe I should take the exam instead. But since I will be spending this whole weekend freaking out over my political geography paper, I won't have time to study for that exam really... what a predicament. Luckily the American Foreign Policy teacher is awesome and she told me that I could get an extension on the paper, so now I have till next friday for that paper. That was so nice of her; I'd kiss her if it weren't illegal and she weren't married.
Then after those two things are done, I get to start on my third and final big International Affairs-related paper of the semester. I have no idea what I am going to write for this one, but at least we just have to choose from a list of already well-developed topics, so that part is already done for us.
I will also have to start on my two linguistics final projects, one of which could be pretty interesting if I put the effort into it. I will probably go into more detail later about it, but basically I will be recording myself and some other people saying some things and then I will be using the computer to analyze the difference between double and single vowels (example: see vs. seeing). So that could be a neat project.
Ok, back to work...
Basically I haven't been doing anything fun lately because I've been too busy freaking out about the Political Geography paper that I have due on monday. Big semester final papers usually freak me out because I suck at writing them, but this one has me extra freaked out because it is worth a pretty significant portion of our grade and I got a D on the first test (and only test so far). Also, I have to get at least a C- in this class for the International Affairs major. I've been getting pretty good grades in recent years, but this class is, um, not going so well for me. Sooo I need to do pretty well on this paper.
Also on monday, I am supposed to either turn in my final paper for my American Foregin policy class, or take the final exam. I've been planning on doing the paper because it will give me more time to think about what I'm saying and hopefully do a better job, but now I'm thinking that maybe I should take the exam instead. But since I will be spending this whole weekend freaking out over my political geography paper, I won't have time to study for that exam really... what a predicament. Luckily the American Foreign Policy teacher is awesome and she told me that I could get an extension on the paper, so now I have till next friday for that paper. That was so nice of her; I'd kiss her if it weren't illegal and she weren't married.
Then after those two things are done, I get to start on my third and final big International Affairs-related paper of the semester. I have no idea what I am going to write for this one, but at least we just have to choose from a list of already well-developed topics, so that part is already done for us.
I will also have to start on my two linguistics final projects, one of which could be pretty interesting if I put the effort into it. I will probably go into more detail later about it, but basically I will be recording myself and some other people saying some things and then I will be using the computer to analyze the difference between double and single vowels (example: see vs. seeing). So that could be a neat project.
Ok, back to work...
4.15.2006
Dreams
Last night I dreamt that I was driving BMW's newest creation. It was a large mechanical caterpillar/scorpion. Instead of wheels it had mechanical legs. In front were two hands/claws that could be operated from the cockpit. I drove it through a restaurant using the claws to fling people and plates and cups around the place. My only complaint from my test drive of this new BMW was that the claws were very difficult to control and every time I tried to pick something up it was impossible not to break it. At the end of my short rampage/test-drive, the BMW representative asked me my opinion on the thing and I told him that I didn't think BMW should build it without first doing some more market research and fine-tuning the claw operation.
4.11.2006
Last Semester
I've signed up for classes for next semester, my last semester as an undergrad. I will be taking a relatively light load of only 15 hours (compared to 18 this semester and last). Except for my mandatory Critical Thinking Senior Seminar for International Affairs, I will be taking only language-related classes (sweet!). Here's what I'm signed up for:
Semantics (MWF 12 - 1) - I'm not sure how interesting I find semantics compared to some other sub-disciplines of linguistics, but this is a required course, so I'm taking it. Who knows, it might be the coolest thing ever.
Morphology and Syntax (TR 9:30 - 10:45) - I think I'm less interested in syntax than I am in semantics because syntax is like grammar, but it is important to know about and this is a required class, so I'm taking it. Who knows, it might be the coolest thing ever.
Spanish Phonology and Phonetics (TR 11:00 - 12:15) - I only had to harass a few people to get someone to allow this class to count towards my linguistics major and I am really happy about that. I'm excited about this class because I like Spanish, and I like Phonology and Phonetics, and here is a class that combines them! I think this is the class that I am most excited about, except for the next class down, perhaps.
Portuguese for Spanish Speakers (MWF 2 - 3) - Out of 9 semesters of college, this will only be the second class that I take that doesn't count towards anything that I need credit for (the other class I took that didn't get me any credit that I needed was Spanish Conversation last fall). I'm excited about this class because I always like learning a new language, and it will be fun to learn a new language via a second language. Hopefully I will learn a lot more in this class than I would learn in one semester of any other language. Oh, and sorry to Amanda who is mad that I am going to learn some Portuguese before she does (she claims that Portuguese was her language first and now I'm stealing it).
Int. Affairs senior seminar (W 4 - 6:30) - Truth be told, I'm not really looking forward to this class at all. Truth be told, I didn't start liking the International Affairs major until I was already pretty far through it. Granted, I've enjoyed my IA classes this year, and hopefully this class will be good too, but I'm still worried about it. But on the good side, this should be my only really difficult class so I should have the time to devote to doing well in it.
In other, unrelated news, tonight was the 7th Annual East Asian Language Competition here at CU. It is a competition held jointly by the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean departments here. Students from each level compete by doing performances to demonstrate their language skills and then the best teams win prizes. I participated in it as a freshman and as a sohpomore, taking away first prize for my teams both years. This year I was invited to be a student judge and I got to rate all the younger kids. I was hoping the Chinese kids would kick butt, but they didn't. The Korean students won the most prizes, but in a way it is unfair because they are mostly native speakers but the Chinese and Japanese kids are not. Luckily, the Japanese kids didn't do so well either, so I can at least take solace in that. I was a little bothered about how the competition had been re-organized from years past though. In the past, the second-year students had to participate in a translation competition where one student would read something in English, they would then have to tell it to their partner in whatever language it was they studied, and then their partner would have to interpret it back into English. The teams that ended with a translation closest to the original passage given would win. However, this year they didn't do that and that's too bad. Anyhow, I got some gift certificates for being a judge, so that's cool. Deep down inside though, I really just like going because I like listening to the younger kids and seeing how much better I am than them... hahaha (am I joking? maybe).
Semantics (MWF 12 - 1) - I'm not sure how interesting I find semantics compared to some other sub-disciplines of linguistics, but this is a required course, so I'm taking it. Who knows, it might be the coolest thing ever.
Morphology and Syntax (TR 9:30 - 10:45) - I think I'm less interested in syntax than I am in semantics because syntax is like grammar, but it is important to know about and this is a required class, so I'm taking it. Who knows, it might be the coolest thing ever.
Spanish Phonology and Phonetics (TR 11:00 - 12:15) - I only had to harass a few people to get someone to allow this class to count towards my linguistics major and I am really happy about that. I'm excited about this class because I like Spanish, and I like Phonology and Phonetics, and here is a class that combines them! I think this is the class that I am most excited about, except for the next class down, perhaps.
Portuguese for Spanish Speakers (MWF 2 - 3) - Out of 9 semesters of college, this will only be the second class that I take that doesn't count towards anything that I need credit for (the other class I took that didn't get me any credit that I needed was Spanish Conversation last fall). I'm excited about this class because I always like learning a new language, and it will be fun to learn a new language via a second language. Hopefully I will learn a lot more in this class than I would learn in one semester of any other language. Oh, and sorry to Amanda who is mad that I am going to learn some Portuguese before she does (she claims that Portuguese was her language first and now I'm stealing it).
Int. Affairs senior seminar (W 4 - 6:30) - Truth be told, I'm not really looking forward to this class at all. Truth be told, I didn't start liking the International Affairs major until I was already pretty far through it. Granted, I've enjoyed my IA classes this year, and hopefully this class will be good too, but I'm still worried about it. But on the good side, this should be my only really difficult class so I should have the time to devote to doing well in it.
In other, unrelated news, tonight was the 7th Annual East Asian Language Competition here at CU. It is a competition held jointly by the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean departments here. Students from each level compete by doing performances to demonstrate their language skills and then the best teams win prizes. I participated in it as a freshman and as a sohpomore, taking away first prize for my teams both years. This year I was invited to be a student judge and I got to rate all the younger kids. I was hoping the Chinese kids would kick butt, but they didn't. The Korean students won the most prizes, but in a way it is unfair because they are mostly native speakers but the Chinese and Japanese kids are not. Luckily, the Japanese kids didn't do so well either, so I can at least take solace in that. I was a little bothered about how the competition had been re-organized from years past though. In the past, the second-year students had to participate in a translation competition where one student would read something in English, they would then have to tell it to their partner in whatever language it was they studied, and then their partner would have to interpret it back into English. The teams that ended with a translation closest to the original passage given would win. However, this year they didn't do that and that's too bad. Anyhow, I got some gift certificates for being a judge, so that's cool. Deep down inside though, I really just like going because I like listening to the younger kids and seeing how much better I am than them... hahaha (am I joking? maybe).
4.06.2006
Some Fun New Words
A couple weeks ago in my Study of Words class we learned about blending, a linguistic term for when people take parts of separate words and blend them together to form a new word. In class we looked at this list of new humorous blendings sent in by readers of the Washington Post.
The Washington Post asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are the winners:
1. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realise it was your money to start with.
2. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
3. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
4. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.
5. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.
6. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
7. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
8. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
9. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.
10. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)
11. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.
12. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
13. Glibido: All talk and no action.
14. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
15. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
16. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
17. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you're eating.
And the pick of the literature
18. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an a**hole.
Here's the link where I got them from: http://www.psychicsahar.com/artman/publish/article_121.shtml
The Washington Post asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are the winners:
1. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realise it was your money to start with.
2. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
3. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
4. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.
5. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.
6. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
7. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
8. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
9. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.
10. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)
11. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.
12. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
13. Glibido: All talk and no action.
14. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
15. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
16. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
17. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you're eating.
And the pick of the literature
18. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an a**hole.
Here's the link where I got them from: http://www.psychicsahar.com/artman/publish/article_121.shtml
4.02.2006
Spring Break
If anyone was offended by my previous post, I'm not really sorry. It seems from the comments that some people took that post more seriously than I had intended. It was meant to be purely in jest and I was not commenting on what those people are ACTUALLY like because I don't even know any of them. It is merely me judging the books by their covers. And no, nobody will end up on "the list" simply be being offended by "the list."
I got back to Boulder yesterday after being in San Diego for spring break. It was mostly a good trip. It was kind of like a blend of the other two times I went there for spring break in my freshman and sophomore years. It is like freshman year because instead of Taiwanese Andy coming with us, we had Taiwanese Kevin who was a lot more fun than Andy I think. And instead of Grant's girlfriend Shannon, we had Grant's girlfreind Jess. Also like freshman year, Jason's parents got us their beach house in Carlsbad which was fun. But unlike freshman year, we didn't go to Mexico, and Grant and Girlfriend didn't drive out with us and Jason did drive out with us this time. Also, unlike freshman year, we were all 21+ this time so we went to bars. One of the first nights we were there, Jason's parents took us to a country western bar where they had a dodgeball tournament that night. I hate dodgeball (and most other games that involve throwing or catching balls), but I agreed to be in a team with Casey and Jason and Kevin who, unlike me, enjoy throwing and catching balls. We played best two out of three with two teams. I was, naturally, the first one to get hit out of every game except for the second game of the first match where I was the last one out. After they blew the whistle calling the game over, I finally managed to catch a ball... with my face. Everyone in the bar let out a "Oooooh!" and it was reeeeeeaaally embarrassing. I think our team did the worst, but there were some teams that were very very serious about dodgeball and I'm glad we didn't have to play against any of them.
After spending the first couple days at Jason's awesome house, we drove to Carlsbad. Carlsbad is a pretty wealthy coastal town north-ish of San Diego. This town produced Shaun White, one of the best snowboarders in the world who won a gold medal in the Torino Olympics. I still don't really understand how a kid who grew up on the beach can become the best snowboarder in the world. I guess he skates and surfs though, so maybe that's why. Anyway, we stayed at a condo there that Jason's parents have a time share at. It was nice, except that Grant and Girlfriend Jess kind of wore out their invitation. While the rest of us firmed up our plans a month ago and told Jason that we would go with him to San Diego, Grant didn't. He just kept telling us that he was going to play it by ear and would probably go to LA for the week and maybe come down to San Diego for a day or two and hang out with us. Well, apparently after two days in LA he wasn't getting along very well with the girl that they were staying with and so they decided to come down and stay at the beach house for four days. There's a lot of background drama that I don't want to go into here, but basically it was a tactless and rude move on his part and so on the fourth day (thursday) we basically told them that they couldn't hang out with us after we left the beach house that morning. He was not happy and Jess was even less happy, but I don't feel sorry for either of them.
The ocean was cold, as it has always been when we go there for spring break. The water was around 56 degrees. In the past I remember it being cold to get into, but once you were in it was fine, but this year it was cold even after getting in. It was so cold that I couldn't really even hold my breath. I would go under for a wave and I immediately needed to go back up for air. I think it might be because the cold was making chest contract or something. I also got brain freeze from it. So I didn't spend much time in the water, but I always enjoy going to the beach even when the water's cold.
On thursday night, Jason's parents took us and some other people out to eat at a really nice restaurant in downtown San Diego and then after that we went with some other people to the bars down there. I was the Designated Driver, so I just followed everyone around trying to have a fun time anyway. It was pretty fun but because it was a weeknight there weren't many people out.
All of the inbetween time was filled up with watching movies, playing frisbee, spotting all the hot cars that are so ubiquitous there, eating delicious In-N-Out Burgers (after eating In-N-Out, all other fast food burgers just don't stack up), talking about girls, sleeping, and joking around. It was a good trip. A huge thanks goes to Jason's parents too who were, as in the past, entirely too generous and hostpitable. They put us up in their house, gave us food, gave us their timeshare on the beach, took us out to dinner, and even bought us drinks at some of the bars. We owe them big time, and I think they will be calling in that debt when they come out here in May to help Jason move back to San Diego. Anyway, back to school tomorrow so now it's homework time.
I got back to Boulder yesterday after being in San Diego for spring break. It was mostly a good trip. It was kind of like a blend of the other two times I went there for spring break in my freshman and sophomore years. It is like freshman year because instead of Taiwanese Andy coming with us, we had Taiwanese Kevin who was a lot more fun than Andy I think. And instead of Grant's girlfriend Shannon, we had Grant's girlfreind Jess. Also like freshman year, Jason's parents got us their beach house in Carlsbad which was fun. But unlike freshman year, we didn't go to Mexico, and Grant and Girlfriend didn't drive out with us and Jason did drive out with us this time. Also, unlike freshman year, we were all 21+ this time so we went to bars. One of the first nights we were there, Jason's parents took us to a country western bar where they had a dodgeball tournament that night. I hate dodgeball (and most other games that involve throwing or catching balls), but I agreed to be in a team with Casey and Jason and Kevin who, unlike me, enjoy throwing and catching balls. We played best two out of three with two teams. I was, naturally, the first one to get hit out of every game except for the second game of the first match where I was the last one out. After they blew the whistle calling the game over, I finally managed to catch a ball... with my face. Everyone in the bar let out a "Oooooh!" and it was reeeeeeaaally embarrassing. I think our team did the worst, but there were some teams that were very very serious about dodgeball and I'm glad we didn't have to play against any of them.
After spending the first couple days at Jason's awesome house, we drove to Carlsbad. Carlsbad is a pretty wealthy coastal town north-ish of San Diego. This town produced Shaun White, one of the best snowboarders in the world who won a gold medal in the Torino Olympics. I still don't really understand how a kid who grew up on the beach can become the best snowboarder in the world. I guess he skates and surfs though, so maybe that's why. Anyway, we stayed at a condo there that Jason's parents have a time share at. It was nice, except that Grant and Girlfriend Jess kind of wore out their invitation. While the rest of us firmed up our plans a month ago and told Jason that we would go with him to San Diego, Grant didn't. He just kept telling us that he was going to play it by ear and would probably go to LA for the week and maybe come down to San Diego for a day or two and hang out with us. Well, apparently after two days in LA he wasn't getting along very well with the girl that they were staying with and so they decided to come down and stay at the beach house for four days. There's a lot of background drama that I don't want to go into here, but basically it was a tactless and rude move on his part and so on the fourth day (thursday) we basically told them that they couldn't hang out with us after we left the beach house that morning. He was not happy and Jess was even less happy, but I don't feel sorry for either of them.
The ocean was cold, as it has always been when we go there for spring break. The water was around 56 degrees. In the past I remember it being cold to get into, but once you were in it was fine, but this year it was cold even after getting in. It was so cold that I couldn't really even hold my breath. I would go under for a wave and I immediately needed to go back up for air. I think it might be because the cold was making chest contract or something. I also got brain freeze from it. So I didn't spend much time in the water, but I always enjoy going to the beach even when the water's cold.
On thursday night, Jason's parents took us and some other people out to eat at a really nice restaurant in downtown San Diego and then after that we went with some other people to the bars down there. I was the Designated Driver, so I just followed everyone around trying to have a fun time anyway. It was pretty fun but because it was a weeknight there weren't many people out.
All of the inbetween time was filled up with watching movies, playing frisbee, spotting all the hot cars that are so ubiquitous there, eating delicious In-N-Out Burgers (after eating In-N-Out, all other fast food burgers just don't stack up), talking about girls, sleeping, and joking around. It was a good trip. A huge thanks goes to Jason's parents too who were, as in the past, entirely too generous and hostpitable. They put us up in their house, gave us food, gave us their timeshare on the beach, took us out to dinner, and even bought us drinks at some of the bars. We owe them big time, and I think they will be calling in that debt when they come out here in May to help Jason move back to San Diego. Anyway, back to school tomorrow so now it's homework time.
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