the drive to nebraska went well on saturday. having Brianna along definitely makes the trip go much faster. and i didn't even have to get new tires this time (as opposed to this summer when i was with her and bought 4). i'm realizing that there are very few people i feel totally comfortable taking on a long drive -- and Brianna is one of them. i never feel like i have to fill the silence like i do with so many others. even some who i'm really close to...

um...let's see. what have i done since i got home... oh! i helped my great-uncle for about 1/2 a day framing the walls for the new addition on our house. we would have kept working, but it got too cold. he's retired, so he feels it's unnecessary to work when it's cold. :) it was really nice to work outside and use my hands again! i really miss not doing that at school.

what else...oh yeah! i helped grandpa make some munchies to have after christmas dinner. that's always fun because there's plenty of good conversation and lots of sugar consumption.

i just heard some lady on tv say "c'mon, i need to see winter!" i couldn't agree more. i wouldn't mind the cold near as much if there was snow. today the high was in the 20's and tomorrow we'll be lucky to get that warm. maybe i should give up the hope of finding my winter coat in the apartment at school and just buy one here so i don't freeze. we'll see...

in other news, another LU student lost their life: Arthur Aubert. i never talked to him or anything, except for the occasional "hello" in the gilbert lounge or on the way to my apartment. but he seemed like a really good guy. i definitely feel for all who knew him. don't know what else to say about that...

in a bit my family will make the hour-long trip to lincoln to do some christmas shopping and stay at a motel. we always talk about spending a night away from home, but have never done it until now. it's kinda wierd -- this will be the only time i've spent time away from home over christmas with my family...ever. both sets of grandparents live here in henderson, so we've never had to leave to hang out with our families over the holidays.

anyways...it's about time to leave. hope everyone is having a wonderful christmas break!

quotes from the semester...

from software engineering:

"poor sales people. i feel sorry for them. they get alot of bad press -- sometimes wrongly, but

mostly rightly." --dr king

"i don't want to leave you high and dry -- there will be a few topics [on your pop quiz] that we'll

actually go over." --dr king

"here the emphasis is on [writing] lazy code: be strict in what you will accept before you begin, and

promise as little as possible in return." --the pragmatic programmer, p111

"what does COTS stand for again?" --me
"crap off the slides." --weezer

"dude, i'm telling you. wall clocks know everything!" --ardith

"so i have 7 pages of notes and 11 pages of stories." --ardith

"look! i have a green pen and a red pen. i use the red pen on things i don't like and the green pen

on mostly nothing." --ardith


from the operating systems textbook:

"idle lawyers tend to become politicans, so there is a certain social value in keeping lawyers busy."

--p9

"the dining philosophers problem is considered a classic synchronization problem, neither

because of its practical importance nor because computer scientists dislike philosophers." --p210

"step 3 of the resource-request algorithm: have the system pretend..." --p258

"certain options and features of a program may be used rarely. for instance, the routines on u.s.

government computers that balance the budget have only recently been used." --p318

"this type of security breach was shown in the movie war games." --664


random quotes:

"i'm getting old. you must understand my situation." --dr. kim (i'm guessing he's in his lower 30's)

"so then YOU ARE a CPU." --cassie to me

"it's great to have a hat on, so i can whack my head and it's cushioned." --becky

"diarhea of the mouth has nothing to do with you being an ethnic minority." --cassie to jeanette

"you should shut up. you should have shut up a long time ago..." --stefanny to jeanette
"yeah, like before i was born." --jeanette

"pardon me, i can't stand without my glasses on." --me
"so in that an inner-eye problem?" --trina

"keep those ankles covered ladies." --frankish

referring to lisa's hearing aides: "so that's how lisa can stand living with lindsey!" --frankish
*glare* --lindsey

"my sleep is a piecewise function." --becky

me: but you know everything.
the incredible hoyt: no, i don't. that would be too much to fit in my little head.

leadership doesn't matter. --becky (taken extremely out of context!!)

me: i wish it would keep raining
the incredible hoyt: i wish it would be like this
[5 second pause]
the incredible hoyt: oh wait, it is

i'm getting tired...my stomach hasn't had this much to do in quite some time. --schooby

what motivates you?
why did you get up this morning?
why are you here (on the earth)?

this was the focus of chapel yesterday. i realized that what motivates me is the fear of failure. that's why i work hard and also why i get stressed and frustrated so easily. it makes sense then that i only go to God when i'm close to failing at something.

i wish i could say this was not the case. i say i am a christian and supposedly rely on God for everything and am here on earth for the purpose of glorifying Him. hopefully someday...

so tonight i took jeanette to the junction to buy some stuff. we were proud of ourselves - in and out in less than 5 minutes. all shopping should be this efficient. you see, this summer i received a wonderful gift, but couldn't use it until i had my purchase from tonight. not that i have any particular reason to use it, but what's the point of having a gift that is unusable? if you know what i mean, great. if not, feel free to refrain from asking unnecessary questions. the end.