Month: December 2004

SO HUNGRY

Dinner was less than ideal tonight, meatless tortellini. I almost considered not going to SJC for dinner, but I went anyways for the social interaction. Considering I didn’t really eat lunch or breakfast, this dinner left me hungry as hell at 11pm. So, I walked on over to the McDonald’s in the village. When I got there, it was already closed! They shut down early for “upgrades”. That McDonald’s closes early more times than any other restaurant I’ve ever seen. Plus, they always have the longest lines. Anyways, so I’m waiting for a steak to defrost so I can fry it up and get some protein.

My field trip today was quite productive. I got my extra RAM and my ink cartridge. The RAM installed without a hitch. Everything is more zippier in Windows XP now. Half-Life 2 performance is great now. It used to stutter after every level loaded as it cached elements to the hard drive. With more RAM though, the stuttering is gone and it plays as smooth as a freshly shorn scrotum. However, in the process of twiddling with HL2 after installing more RAM, I discovered I had been playing under the “Easy” difficulty level the entire time. I know I picked “Medium” at the beginning of the game, I’m not sure how it got changed. Anyways, among gaming geeks, playing a game on “Easy” is akin to being the adult champion in a kids’ karate class. There’s just no honour in doing that. I’ve set it back to “Medium” and believe me, I saw the difference immediately. This basically ensures that I’ll have to play the game again during the holidays.

Well, my steak is ready for cooking, I’ll see everyone later.

FIELD TRIP

I’ve been east of the Safeway on 10th Ave. maybe three or four times in the last month and a half. The trips off-campus have been few and far in between. It doesn’t help not having TA job this term. Plus, I’ve been busy with school work. Tomorrow, however, I am taking a trip all the way to Granville and Broadway. Yep, that’s far for me now.

I’m going to pick up some more RAM for the computer. Running Matlab has made me realize how much faster things could be with more memory. That it will also help Half-Life 2 performance is also a nice bonus.

I’m also going to purchase a new ink cartridge for my printer. I have three assignments to hand in on Wednesday, each supposedly worth a credit each. Yikes. My assignments are of dubious quality right now. I’m hoping if I print out the graphs in colour, that’ll make a good impression.

After that, the plan is to high-tail it back here to the womb to work more on my project. I sent a copy of what I have working so far to a friend last night. He didn’t seem too impressed. I need to get a lot more work done.

JACKED

The other day I get this e-mail from the SJC news list. Some dude is selling his fridge. This is a common occurence, people move out and want to unload their fridge. Then, I read his e-mail. I was stunned. First, let’s take a look at Fridgy McFridgerson’s e-mail:

Date: Wed, 01 Dec 2004 00:07:52 -0500 (EST)

From: Henry Yuan

To: sjc-news@interchange.ubc.ca

Subject: [sjc-news] A fridge for sale

Dear all,



I have a small fridge for sale, LG GR-131R. With a capacity of just under 3.3 cu ft., It is

quite reliable, trouble-free, and very quiet. This fridge is not your regular half-height bar fridge.

It fits just underneath your counter, being spacious yet not bulky. It was only two years old. I

asked for $100. If you are interested in it, please reply by email or drop in Room 1112. ( Sorry I need it till the end of December.)



Cheers

Henry

Sounds fine right? Well, guess what? I sold my fridge last September as well. How did I advertise it? Through the news list as well. Take a gander at my e-mail. Note the sections highlighed in red:

Date: Thu, 2 Sep 2004 01:38:01 -0700 (PDT)

From: Erwin Tang

To: sjc-news@interchange.ubc.ca

Subject: resplendent fridge for sale

Hello all:

I am a former resident who is selling my LG GR-131R fridge. With a

capacity of just under 3.3 cu ft., this reliable, trouble-free, and quiet

fridge will serve all your food cooling needs while at St. John’s

College.

This fridge is not your regular half-height bar fridge. It fits just

underneath your counter, being spacious yet not bulky. Capable of holding

an entire roast chicken, you’ll have plenty of room left over for salads,

drinks, and much more. Also possessing a freezer compartment, you can

store leftovers or make ice cubes (be the life of the party!).

Styled in egg-shell white, the GR-131R will help accentuate your

room. Did I mention the door is reversible? Beauty and versatility all in

one.

The fridge has been recently defrosted and cleaned for your

convenience.

With such a feature-rich unit, you might be thinking you’ll need to

arrange financing, but that won’t be necessary. I’m asking for only

$100. If you act now, I’ll even throw in an assortment of drinks to get

you started.

If you’re still interested, take a look at the GR-131R on-line:

http://www.hemingwayagency.com/BrilliantRewards/Ruby/Products/241-GR-131R.html

The fridge is being stored at SJC, so I can arrange for a viewing at your

discretion. See before you buy!

Don’t delay when you can be enjoying cold foods tomorrow!

Regards,

Erwin

Dude ripped off my copy! His ad has the Tang-meister written all over it. Here’s another thing, it’s been three months since I sent out that e-mail. Did he have it saved all this time, waiting for the day he’d sell his own fridge?

Look, I don’t want to toot my own horn, but after I sent out that e-mail, I received a lot of positive comments about my ad. “Best fridge selling e-mail ever” comes to mind, but I won’t bore you with what people told me. I appreciate that he found my e-mail good enough to copy, but still, where’s the respect? I gladly would have written him his own kick-ass ad for a small nominal fee.

I should get a cut of his fridge money when he sells it.