What is wrong with the Stanford webservers? It must take about 5 to 10 seconds to get a webpage.. even the front page! You would think with all that money they could get decent bandwidth…

Apparently a Catholic college is complaining about fruit sex. No, this is not some new deviant sexual fetish.. rather, a fruit wrapper. I think they’re really a bit too paranoid, but really, what ARE the lemon and green fruits actually doing??

I went to Toyota’s Put It In Play event in Alameda, CA yesterday. It was a good idea:let people drive around some of Toyota’s newest cars in road course games. Favorite childhood games were transformed into adult car games for our enjoyment. Some included red-light green-light, capture the “checker” flag, and dodgeball (yes, you have to dodge the balls with the car). Best of all, it’s free.

To say the least, I had fun with the cars. What dealer would let you get in a car and push the machine to the limits on a road course? My fiancee and I happily hopped into a few Matrixes (or is it Matrices?) and Corollas and drived like maniacs through coned courses on an army base. Points were given out for winning different contests (only one play per game though…) And of course, the usual prizes are given out (shirts, movies, and iPods for highest score, an insane 98 that day)

However, the turn out was much smaller than expected. The little amount of people there was depressing. One could tell from all the turnstyles and staff present that Toyota must have expected thousands to come through. I could see it being much more fun with big crowds, people cheering, and a plethora of competition during the games. But, there was no line, no crowds, and barely any competitors. So Toyota, good job on a marketing scheme well thought out and implemented. Too bad no one came…

HP is now selling iPods. The only difference is that HP is including the ability to customize the iPod by placing a sticker on the face of the iPod. Yet another gimmick. Actually, I really do like Apple’s minimalistic look (yes, I even like those abstract minimalist paintings and sculptures in the MOMA that always spawn conversations about how dogs could replicate them).

Ever since the iPod came out, in the back of my mind, I always wanted one. But the price point is still definitely too high. I could see myself playing around with my iPod, and then getting to busy to use it consistently. If I’m going to invest hundreds of dollars on an item, I better be using it a few years from now. Some say that the iPod is only a (gasp!) weak pawn in the future market of handheld devices. People definitely give it more credit than it deserves. However, it would be pretty interesting to work on their development team.

A ghost tree at the 17 mile drive in Monterey, CA. Almost blinded myself trying to get this shot, but it was worth it.

I really don’t understand the state of Stanford EE’s web presence. There’s around four ways to view available courses. However, none is satisfactory in showing all the information needed. This requires me to look in all four places to find all the information.

I find this to be quite disturbing, since most other department’s websites are intelligently laid out. It’s like the EE department couldn’t decide on an interface, so they chose to deploy multiple versions. On top of this, the Master’s program is quite complicated in its breadth requirement. I don’t mean complicated to comprehend, but rather, complicated to plan because of the website infrastructure. I find myself looking back and forth to make sure I fulfilled all the requirements.. very annoying.

So I’m deciding what courses to take for my Masters… too many permutations, too little time…

The peach tart that we made. I would say this is one of the most beautiful things to come out of our oven.

I shop at Walmart because I know it’s usually the cheapest for any household item. It’s even competitive with the dollar stores. But it is this reason that makes me hate Walmart.

The crowds. The overfilled parking lots. People getting in my way in the aisles. I hate it. I’m only there to pick up a few items, and no matter what, it always takes such a long time. For me, it’s always a drag to realize I need something at Walmart.

Not only are the crowds horrible, Walmart is something to keep an eye on at a higher level. They’ve priced things so low that they are literally pricing smaller companies out of business. I think I will consider other sources for my household needs.. but it’s become so comfortable to go to one place for everything that this may be a challenge.

I got FP at kuro5hin.org with my piece about Michel Gondry. Take a gander.