Harsh Reality of Education

I admit that this post is yet another blog post that allows me to rant about the few bad things in my extremely enjoyable life. I realize that makes me petty and self-absorbed. So here's my ran about why the beginning of the fall semester at LSU blows:

1) There are too damn many people. Everywhere I go, it is packed. You would expect that there would be some sort of accomodation for this... Instead, there are lines, no parking spots, and constant loud noise.

2) All of those people crowding the halls will keep the URec completely unusable for the first three weeks of class. They will then disappear. That means I will be pissed off every morning I come to school for three weeks when I can't park there, run there, or punch things (that I won't get arrested for punching) there.

3) I have an instructor that quized me on the syllabus that he had not handed out yet. When I was slightly off, he stated that it had been on the web for weeks. (Nevermind that I had read it, just not studied it. It's a syllabus for Pete's sake.) Why does this aggrivate me? My other professor to date has not handed out or posted a syllabus. Trust me when I say that in Computer Science graduate school the latter is standard practice.

4) I still don't have a solid TA assignment. As it stood this morning, I was given a choice: (1) Instruct a lab, but come to school 5 days a week. (2) Grade papers and come to school only 2 days a week, but miss cruise to Mexico. I have been dealing with this since 8:00 AM, it is now almost 3:00.

Thanks for letting me get that out. I have just been so stressed with finishing my research lab duties, school, and home that I've seriously thought about shaving my head. I don't know what I thought it would solve, it just seemed like the most logical solution...

Karaoke Revolution

I have a new first. My brother and I got a Nintendo Entertainment System of our own after it had been sold for almost 3 years. I actually think Sega Genesis was out by the time we got an NES. The only computer game I have ever bought was Quake III Arena. It was $10 in a bargain bin. I usually just play the demos since there's so much in them. But the time is NOW, and I JOHN W BURRIS... for the first time in my entire life, have paid full price for a video game.

That game: KARAOKE REVOLUTION PARTY!!!

It has been worth every penny. Here's the story:

Jordan and Katie recenty bought a game called Guitar Hero (read more here). Well I played it at the recent draft party and really enjoyed it. Beyond that, everyone was enjoying it at the same time. The coolest part about it was how I could tell that Jordan and Katie had spent quite a lot of time practicing. That's really cool when you think about it. They have an activity that they spend loads of time on together and having a good time. I considered buying a Sony Playstation II with Guitar Hero and 2 controllers online just so Natasha and I could play. The total cost was going to be around $195. That would have gotten me a Playstation 2, 3 controllers, around 10 games, memory card, Guitar Hero, and 2 Guitar Hero controllers. Not a bad deal... But then I started looking at what I could get for the system I already have and love playing, the Gamecube.

The first game was Mario Party 7 ($50). It is well known for being the best party game made since some girls don't like Super Smash Brothers Melee. However, it wasn't quite right. (I ended up buying one just for the microphone inside.)

Karaoke Revolution ($50) practically screamed at me when I saw it. Both Ron and Brad had mentioned how fun it was. There was no hesitation as I ran to the Wal-Mart attendant.

So here's what the game is: You sing karaoke into USB microphones. You are judged based on both accuracy in timing and pitch. The closer you are, the more points you get and the more the crowd gets into it. You can sing duets, have battles or just plain sing karaoke. The character creater is pretty good as well. This is a really, really fun game so far. I'm glad that the Simpson crew exposed me to this type of gaming.

It has 50 really cool songs. (See song list here under the title Karaoke Revolution Party) I had gotten perfect on only 2 songs: Dust in the Wind (Easiest difficulty) and That's Amore (hardest difficulty)

We will be playing this game tonight at my brother's with his friends and tomorrow night in Ruston with our dinner club. Tuesday my Mom and Dad may be coming to play. That may be interesting.... Dad's voice has never been mistaken for Andrea Bocelli.

After the successful sessions that Natasha and I had playing this game, I looked for some lists of great games. I found this list at gamestats.com and was dissappointed that Karaoke Revolution Party did not fare well. Neither did Mario Party 7. Then I noticed that Super Monkey Ball 2 was near the top of the list, so I completely dismissed it. If anyone knows of some really good games for couples, let me know. I think Mario Kart: Double Dash is in the near future. I've also considered Pikmin 2 and Lego: Star Wars but I'm not sure how fun those would be for Natasha.

The Chrsitening

Here is a picture of Grace's christening. It's a little dated, so to see the latest photos of Grace, it would be best to go to Natasha's blog.

A Big Blue Recliner

I'm guessing a few of you have been wondering what I've been up to. OK, so maybe not, but I'm gonna fill you in regardless.

I spent last weekend away from the family at a fantasy football draft party. Taylor hosted it at his place and it was very fun. Taylor cooked steaks, Jordan brought a fun game called "Guitar Hero", and Taylor's dog ruled us with an iron fist. (Oh and we drank beer.) The draft is almost over and I think I got a pretty decent team out of it. However, I thought the same thing last year when two of my top three picks got injured. Brad drove up there with me which actually made the drive pretty enjoyable despite the fact that I drive so much during the week. I will say that the group is a lot different than it was just a few years ago in Ruston. I dare say that it seemed like we were a lot older.

Now to explain the title, I also moved a big blue recliner into my living room. I think every old Dad should have one and being that football season is almost upon us, the time is right. So my week has revolved around working hard and relaxing in my recliner.

This weekend we head north again to see the McClung family and do our standard dinner partying. I think Luke and his bride will be there, but I'm not sure if anyone else will show. It should be fun regardless.

School starts in 3 or 4 days. I have a really easy class schedule with a much easier TA schedule. This will all help since I also plan on taking the general exams this semester.

You are now "caught up". :-)

NFT posted on Forbes and Yahoo! Biz

The company that I used to work for and still hold a minority interest in has now been mentioned on Forbes and Yahoo! Business. This is really good news since Internet commerce is driven by publicity. Google isn't worth squat unless it can maintain users and keep a good image whereas Halliburton would be just as successful if you and I never heard of it. So anyway, here's some linkage:

Yahoo! Business

Forbes Business Wire

NFT-TV.com

If you are unfamiliar with the company, you may want to check it out. It's well worth the read. (It will also increase the page ranking of the articles.)

Football Season Approaches

1998: Louisiana Tech Football Highlights


This video is part 1 of 4 and shows the "golden age" on Louisiana Tech football. The 1998 season was only our 10th season in Division 1A football and the record was not great when we finished 6-6. However, this team was the David to the Goliath that was Alabama and it set record after record for its amazing offense. When and if you watch these videos, here are some of the players:
#13: NFL QB Tim Rattay
#16: NFL WR Troy Edwards
#81: WR Sean Cangelosi
#9: WR Delwyn Daigre
#8: RB John Simon

If you are a fan of Tech athletics, these are some of the athletes you can thank for the program that we have today. To see the other 3 parts visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbdywBSH5uk

A Job Posting

No, no, no. I haven't given up on my educashon just yet. I just have to share the oddest disclaimer on a public job posting I've ever read. Under Application Procedures and Clarifications of the job posting:

(5) Do not knock on the office doors of Mr. ______ or me without invitation for interview. Doing so will reduce your chance to get hired. Mr. ______ and I only interview applicants who are in good health. In your main message to me, you should indicate whether you are in good health or not. If you are sick (for example, if you have a cold or hay fever), please indicate that in your main message so that the interview (if any) will be conducted after you send me another message indicating that you have fully recovered from your illness.

I have recently come to know Mr. ______, and I usually think of him as an excretory opening at the end of the alimentary canal, if you know what I mean. This proves that I am not being hard on the guy. I think such a disclaimer really limits the quality of the people who apply. You have to have pretty low self-esteem to send a resume in which you have to state, "As of today, I'm rash free".

Latest Web Design

Well I've done another website.

I hate doing them. I really do. I don't find the process interesting or challenging at all. I might if I used the design as some sort of creative expression, but I don't. However, I have experience and that usually means that I am obligated to do web siites for groups and organizations that I am affiliated with. I don't mind that much since it gives me an opportunity to contribute where others have need. So anyway, Dr. Carver asked for a redesigned site for our research group and I actually got fairly excited about the chance to help give the group a new image. To show the new site, I want to start with what we were going from:

(site viewable here)

We wanted to add 3 things to this site.

1. A modern look and feel
2. A display of our affiliation to LSU
3. A sense of "activity" to our lab

To add #1, we simply used the now standard fonts, more images, and more acceptable design principles.

To add #2, we used the web templates provided by LSU as the basis for the design. Now, by web templates I do not mean prefabricated sites. They provide a few images, the logos, and accepted colors for use on LSU sites. For more info, see http://www.lsu.edu/pa/identity/web.html. I actually spent considerable time improving the template's footer to make it transparet to the background image.

#3 we are still working on. It may take more reliable updating and constantly adding new images.

So here are the fruits of our labors:

(viewable live on http://selab.csc.lsu.edu)

While this isn't the most impressive site I've built, I think it is a considerable improvement and meets the criteria we set for it. You can even see the new logo treatment in the top left corner. Hope you enjoy!

Mexico or Bust!!

That's right, baby! Natasha and I are booked for a Carnival cruise! 5-days cruising through the Gulf of Mexico with stops in Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico. Margaritas and my senorita will be the only things on my mind. We depart in mid-December so it is going to be a hard, hard wait.


We have not taken a trip since our honeymoon and that one didn't go all that well. So I started looking into the pricing of different cruise lines. I will be making a series of posts to help everyone with what goes on in the cruise process in case we inspire someone else to go cruising. I'll post about how I found the rate we got and how the process goes, then keep everyone updated on what we go through.

Local Controversy

Washington Parish (the parish I have lived in most of my life) is in the middle of an ongoing controversy about the use of Eminent Domain by the government. While this case is definitely not equivalent to the recent ruling by the US Supreme Court that the government can seize property for use as private development, it is definitely related. The state and local governments want to create a reservoir in Washington Parish and use that land as a residential development area. Currently, the property is used by few and worth very little to the government or community. However, the people who own the land and have lived their all of their lives aren't going down without a fight.

While I have commented that eminent domain could be one of the greatest threats to personal liberty in our country, I have to say that I am on the side of the government on this case due to the compensations offered and the methods used for property selection and acquisition. The opposition is a extremely vocal group named the "Washington Parish Community Preservation Alliance" which I deduct is primarily made up of members of the Pittman family who's land would be seized in the development. They have made several good points about corruption at the state level, but absolutely fail to convince me that the project would not be beneficial to the community. Their video, which is nearly unwatchably bad quality, also omits a few things. The commission has been repeatedly halted by interruptions so much so that they had to eliminate public comments. They mention that the reservior could create horrible disasters in the event of a hurricane despite no precedent for such a statement. They also mention that the commission lacks scientific proof of statements, but then immediately follows with a statement that building the reservior next to a landfill doesn't "make sense". Remember that in viewing their side of the story, you will be getting a very emotionally charged argument.

I am also a little disappointed that they are personally attacking the members of the commission. Thus, the hesitation for people to comment during the footage. I know some of those committee members and they are only interested in the community. Beryl Schilling, Bob Bateman, and Mike Burris (my distant cousin) have used their time and resources for the community as a whole throughout their lives and I think they deserve a little respect from that community. When the video suggests Bill Durden is overpaid at $5,600 for accounting a project that has over $1 million in assets, they start showing their colors, but when they mention Sen. Thomas' personal problems, they cross the line with me.

Anyway, I hope that this wasn't a complete waste of your time. This is the first time I remember being as interested politically in something that was going on locally.

The New Electric Car

I think that it's perfectly acceptable to be an environmentalist and a conservative. It's not like you have to be a hippy, liberal panty-waste to care about our Earth. Unfortunately, those hippy liberal panty-wastes designed the first series of electric cars that would ultimately fail due to lack of range, lack of saving money, and horrible design. Enter Tesla Motors. (www.teslamotors.com) Perhaps they will do a little better establishing the technology since they have an awesome sense of style to go with it.


Although, it looks and sounds amazing, I'm afraid that the price tag is still too outrageous. Most people who can afford such an expensive ride do not care about gas bills. (Nor the environment unless a camera is pointed at them.)

I'm afraid that this latest attempt at Earth-friendly transportation will go the route of the De Lorean. We can only hope that if it achieves some degree of success that more reasonably priced similar vehicles are produced.

Che Guevara

Perhaps I am the last person remaining on this Earth who did not recognize the image that is spray painted on every street corner in America. It amazes me that after living with a far-left political activists for almost an entire year, I didn't bother to Google it. Well the opportunity presented itself today and I have identified this portrait as that of Che Guevara, or "el Che". While it was no surprise to me that he was in fact, a South American revolutionary, he is actually a very complex historical figure. The actual portrait that this stenciled graffiti is supposed to depict is pasted below. This portrait has become known as the most famous image of the 20th century. While I seriously doubt the subjectivity of such a title, I wonder how many people, like I did not know the whole story behind the man pictured and what ideals he truly represented in both his life and his death. As I read about him, I wonder if those people with his image on a t-shirt blindly accept him as a leader emeritus and representative in death of what they truly belive or if they blindly accept his image and legacy without a sense of skepticism. Perhaps this is the way that the blind lead the blind...


The readers of this blog know that I would not have agreed with this person politically. I would not be buddies with this person. But I do believe that if you have the time or interest, (and assuming you are as ignorant as I) you should read the unbiased article for him on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_Guevara

If you aren't into expanding your knowledge and are seeking a delightful distraction to the harsh reality of daily life, may I suggest a web site that is entirely dedicated to cats who look like Hitler (aka "Kitlers"):

http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com/

Sports Cartoon

I know my readers who grew up in the same generation as I did will appreciate the trip back in time.

I also learned how to blog videos from youtube.com, a great movie site that gives a fair amount of distraction when needed.