Advertise on ME!!!

Oh man these Mainland torrent sites are just going nuts! At the beginning of the last episode 康熙來了 that I downloaded, there is an explicit ad inserted by the torrent server, looking for companies to put their ads in its shows. It even posted a price and everything. This of course, already ignores all the CRAP the server puts in the torrent file already. Thank god you can select which files to download with most clients--utorrent kicks ass by the way. OMG that is just crazy! You are going to hijack someone else's content and inserting your own ads?!?! You expect a respectable business will side with you and associate their name with this practice? Oh wait. This is China.


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I wrote Exam P today. The questions were harder than I expected. There were a lot of variance calculations which were long and tedious. I supposed if maybe if you recognize the distribtions you can do it faster? I had to guess four. One was a probability question, one was a nasty integral that I had to do by parts twice if I bothered, one was an MGF that looked waaay nasty to differentiate twice, and I don't remember the rest. ARGH the SOA is SO GAY! I randomedly guessed all the leftover questions when I had three minutes left. During that time I had a last minute eureka on an integral and got the answer 5/36 on my calculation. WTF it's still wrong?!?! Then the damn "You've ran out of time popped up. And then I saw the answer 10/72. FUCK YOU SOA!!!! FUCK YOU!!! WTF man... And yes I didn't guess right for that question.

The testing experience actually sucked ass. The proctor probably isn't from the SOA and he didn't check anyone's calculator. I don't understand why we had to use their stupid blue Thompson Prometric HB pencils. Fuck HB pencils man! The got dull and nasty after like ten questions. I NEED mechanical pencils. And what's with making us stare at a low refresh rate CRT monitor for 3 hours with only like 30cm between my face and the screen? Bring back paper exams please SOA!!!

Space: Above and Beyond

I'm now the proud owner of the complete first (and only) season of Space: Above and Beyond--in TV rip. The quality is decent, probably off digital cable from Sci-Fi Channel, but I wish the sound is a little bit better. Gah! Must fight temptation to blow $50 + tax on the DVD set. I watched the first three episode so far, and man, some of the CGI are pretty cheesy, especially the Mars scene :). Nevertheless, it is still an absolutely kick ass show and everyone should watch it. I still remember the first time I saw it. It was waaaay back when SPACE was still good and it was free because Rogers (yeah, Rogers) is doing this preview thing for channels forty-four to fifty-something. I was channel flipping on a late night and BLAM it hit me like the first time I saw "In the Pale Moonlight". I don't remember what episode but the show resonated with me immediately. I wish there is still this sort of sci-fi on TV. Stargate is great but it's pretty light hearted. Battlestar Galactica *looks like it's on par with SAAB but it's not on basic cable. Global showed two episodes of it a while back; I wonder what the hell happened to it?

陶[吉吉] ~ 太美麗
It's 陶[吉吉] so enough said already. Great shit. Though I was surprise to hear Jolin (yes, it's THAT Jolin) on his album. And I really think he should lose lines like "XXX is in the house" and "I'm gonna take you back, all the way back... old school style!". That second line ALMOST make me literally, laugh out loud.

Seaons Hilltop Bistro

Wow! What a friggin amazing view. It's like 10x better than the foggy mess of Horizons up Burnaby Mountain. I gotta go back to this place sometime in the future.

http://www.vancouverdine.com/seasons/home.html

This is just so sad :(

B.C. man building school killed in Afghanistan
Last Updated: Tuesday, July 25, 2006 | 10:13 AM PT
CBC News

A Vancouver carpenter has been killed in northern Afghanistan, where he had been completing construction of a school he had been working on for the past four years.

Mike Frastacky, 56, was shot to death on Sunday in a home he was staying at in the town of Nahrin.

Mike Frastacky had been building a school in Nahrin in northern Afghanistan. His sister, Luba Frastacky of Toronto, told CBC Radio on Tuesday that Canadian Foreign Affairs officials said her brother was shot three times in the head.

She said he knew it was particularly dangerous in northern Afghanistan this summer, and that there was talk of a $10,000 bounty being offered for the death of a Westerner.

She said her brother, who had been there since mid-June, had planned to cut this year's visit short because of the danger.

Frastacky also said the Vancouver carpenter was doing what he wanted to do by building and equipping the school.

"It was his sort of mission, I think. He found a need and he filled it by giving education to all the young people in the area."

Frastacky said her brother had discovered the community while trekking in the mountains where he met a guide whose family owned property in Nahrin.

He paid for the project with his own money and by collecting small donations from friends and family.

Nearly 600 students now attend the school.

But let's end on a cheery note: Avril Lavigne is a pretty hot bride.

Plan for New PC

My New PC budget (includes taxes)

mobo - $70
This is one is already finalized. I picked up a used eVGA NF41 from RFD at this price.

CPU - $210
I am aiming for the 3800+ X2. I think this price is NOT unreasonable once Conroe hits on July 23 because the current rumor is that AMD will slash the 3800+ X2 to ~$160 USD.

BOUGHT!!! $169.99 * 1.13 = $192.09 :) SWEETNESS! Decided to splurge on an Arctic Cooling 64 Pro cooler as well. Add $28.17 * 1.13 = $31.83

Video Card - $120
Looking for a used low-mid range card. Something like a X700/X800 or a 6600GT.

Bought a used Powercolor X700 for $70.

PSU - $70
I'll need a new PSU for sure because my old POS only has 12A on the 12V rail. I'll probably get an Antec SmartPower2.0 400W or an Enermax 380W - dual fan goodness ;).

BOUGHT! Fortron 400W - $42.57 * 1.13 = $48.10

HD - $100
I think I'll get a Samsung 250GB because all the reviews say it's really quiet. Ideally I want to get it used at $80. It's also pointless to consider the smaller drives because the saving is like nothing. Truth is I don't need that much HD space AT ALL; maybe I can find a 160GB for $60 by July.

Update: bought Samsung 160GB SATA2 drive from NCIX, $67.79 after 13% tax :).

RAM - $0
Planning to use my brother's RMA-ed TigerDirect stick; maybe I'll upgrade to 2x 512mb and run dual channel when the whole world goes to DDR2 and DDR becomes dirt cheap. I don't really need 1GB of ram; screw Vista.

Optical drive - $0?
Still thinking if I should buy my dad a DVD burner.

Update @ 7/15/06: bought a used Lite-On off RFD for $30.


Total spent: $509.81

What a shitty day

I dropped my U-Pass!!! Argh do I want to pay $20 for another one on Monday? I already had to waste $2.25 for the trip home today... Grrr. Today was also hot as hell as well. Supposedly, it is going to 'feel' like 41 Celcious. OMG!!! 41!!! Celcious!!! Oh I got a huge pile of work as well, not to mention I wasted quite a bit of time this afternoon thinking about why the number of members in an union of two sets is greater than the sum of members in those two sets, when it actually made perfect sense (but only in that context).

Oh AMD dual core price cuts are here!!! 3800+ X2 is currently at $189.99 at NCIX. I'll wait for ATIC and Anitec's prices before I buy.