blog.Xumo

Printing cover pages has always been something that bothered me when working on campus. Before the actual thing you want prints, a page with your name, date, file name, and a bunch of random stuff that I’ve never read comes out first. This page always seemed utterly useless to me. I never wanted it, and I don’t like taking it. I don’t to leave it there or throw it away since it feels like such a waste of paper. And I don’t use it for scratch paper (I’m not sure why, but I just don’t like writing on the back of it). I just never know what I should do with it. Most people just leave it on the table or throw it away in the recycling bin, but it’s still a big waste of paper. BUT, the other day I found an option that allowed me to turn the cover page printing off. I’m not sure how long this option has been available, but I’m super stoked about it:

awesome.

I was thinking about this the other day when eating at the new Burger King on campus: how convenient a 24/7 fast food place would have made late night studying and/or shenanigans. So loosely ordered from ‘most wanted’ to ‘not as much wanted, but still nice’, here they are.

10 Things I wish we had (or knew about) on campus when I was a first-year (and is there now):

1) 24/7 Burger King: The 1$ value meal is pretty awesome. It’s not really THAT cheap when you actually thing about it, but the feeling you get when you can order an apple pie or a Whopper Jr. with just $1.08 on hand is pretty satisfying. The microwave heated apple pies of theirs are something that I’ve been somewhat addicted to in the past few weeks. Whopper Jrs. are good for a quick bite after a lecture from 6-9pm right before going climbing. The frozen yogurt, although watery tasting, provides a cold snack for those days when… you are craving a cold snack.. ;P There isn’t too much that is really that great about Burger King’s food, but the convenience of it all is worth it. I would much rather have a Jack in the Box (99cent tacos!), but hey, I’ll take what I can get.

2) A Piano: Ever since I got my piano, I’ve been wasting a lot less time on the internet, or rather the time I used to spend on the internet has been transferred to playing piano. I think that’s a good thing ;]. I recently found out that there is a piano in the library that we can use, and I wish I knew about it when I was still living on campus; however, I seriously doubt that I would’ve gone to use it.

3) Hopkins parking structure: Parking on campus is pretty bad, even with the new parking structure(s)… Hopkins is right next to where I was living though, giving me a higher probability of being able to get a parking spot w/o having to walk across campus.

4) Tapioca Express: It’s not exactly finished yet, but we are soon to have TapEx on campus. I really craved pearl milk tea all the time when I lived on campus, so this would have been really nice. But it’s probably a good thing that it was not readily available to me at the time. Now, I rarely ever have pearl milk tea.

5) Bear Garden, a.k.a. Beer Garden: We have this event where they give out free beer and free food every so often. I wouldn’t have been able to drink the free beer at the time, but free regents pizza is pretty exciting. (I have yet to attend one of these, but I would have been more motivated to go when I was on campus.

6) The new Price Center building: Basically, this is where all the new food stuff is, Burger King, the Sunshine Market, soon to be TapEx, and the Indian food and Greek food places that I haven’t eaten at yet. Well, since BK is open 24 hours, so is this building. There are sofas and tables and computers around to relax or study. It’s a pretty nice place.

7 & 8) CSE and EBUII: The Computer Science and Engineering building and the Engineering Building Unit II are nice places to study when not wanting to be in the library.

9) Combat training room: I really wish I knew about this my first year. It’s a room with heavy bags and speed bags, and no one is ever there.

10) The Giant Stone Bear: Technically this was built the end of my first year. But it is just so darn awesome. Oh, and you can boulder it. ;D

I’ve been looking to get a digital piano, and I’m torn between getting a cheaper lower end vs. a more expensive higher end. The “lower end” pianos aren’t even bad, it’s just the notion that I can get a more realistic sounding piano that’s holding me back. At the moment I’m looking at the used options, but I can also get a new one for just a little bit more money, and I won’t have to deal with the whole ‘was it worth it’ feeling (well, ‘a different was it worth it’ feeling). I’m itching to play, but I think I’ll give it another few days before I make a decision.

edit: I am now a proud owner of a yamaha p-85. hooray!

I just realized that I can blog about my photoblog. How exciting!

Here is my latest photo:
A Step to Senbazuru
‘An ancient Japanese legend says that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a mythical crane. November 5, 2008.’

edit:
Here is my latest photo:
A Tibetan Deity

I find it very ironic that California passed Prop 2 but failed to shoot down Prop 8. I mean, fine, the treatment of farm animals might not be so great, but I mean seriously…
Here is an argument from yesonprop2.com: “We wouldn’t force our pets to live in filthy, cramped cages for their whole lives, and we shouldn’t force farm animals to endure such misery. ”
True story… but I wouldn’t eat my pet either.
Another point made is that “Prop 2 provides ample time—until 2015—for factory farms using these severe confinement methods to shift to more humane practices.”
Okay, great, so nothing changes until 2015, 7 years from now. The animals are still going to be treated the same until the last possible minute, while California just denied rights to human beings.
Talk about ‘inhumane’ and ‘cruel’… first of all, animals aren’t humans… secondly, humans happen to be. And the passage of Prop 8 is what I consider ‘cruel’ and ‘inhumane’. We are a society that is willing to deny rights to human beings while we sit around and complain about the comfort of our food. I’m not saying that animals should be treated poorly, I’m just saying that, at least, people deserve the consideration that is given to my dinner.

I went to the San Diego Museum of Art this past Sunday to see a gallery by Eleanor Antin. The museum is located in Balboa park, which is a really nice (but kinda touristy) place. It’s really pretty, but the amount of people present kinda detracts from its beauty. I didn’t see too much of Balboa park, but also located there is the San Diego Zoo :D. But, I digress. Eleanor Antin’s art was pretty interesting. Her photographs were taken in the style of history paintings, portraying stories about Greek history, etc. But the most interesting aspect was the integrating of modern themes.

In Antin’s, The Tourists, Helen and Dark Helen pass by the soldiers in the Trojan War as they beg to speak with her. Helen is dressed in modern attire, shrugging them off as if she were going to the mall.

My favorite picture in her series of Helen’s Odyssey would have to be Constructing Helen. I love the colors, or the lack thereof, and the imagery of it all is interesting. Although, she was a person of much power, ultimately, she is a figure being created by man. I bet you could talk all day about this photo ;]

I bought a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon this weekend. When it comes to reds, I usually drink merlot, so this time I thought I’d change it up a bit. I don’t know too much about wines, so really I just chose a wine off the shelf that was reasonably priced and that looked like a lot of other people were buying. Usually, I would just buy a bottle of Yellowtail -I’m sure any wine enthusiast reading this is shaking his or her head right about now-, which is decent for its price, but this time I felt i should try a little harder (which wasn’t all that much). The Francis Coppola Diamond Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 only had two bottles left on the rack, and its label is really simple and appealed to me. Francis Coppola, being a pretty famous dude, also probably would like to keep his street cred and wouldn’t skimp on the wine making. With all these factors coming to play, I figured it wouldn’t be a bad choice for wine.

Turns out, the wine is actually pretty good and won some -what I’m assuming is prestigious- awards:
90 Points - Cheers
Gold Medal - Los Angeles International Wine Competition.

Oh, and it tastes pretty good too ;]