Bits Of Babbling

Parking Lot Madness

UPDATE: Some changes have been made, not quite complete yet though!

The following is incomplete (more to come!) and hasn't been edited (Consider it a stream of consciousness writing for the moment... But SOME people keep bugging me to post so here it is! :P

Alright, well I suppose that its time for a new entry... I mean its been a week since the last entry which was apologizing for not having an entry for over a week. This time around I decided to expound on some of the other parking lot observations I've made other than the Camping Anti-Walker mentioned in a previous blog entry

Without further ado, I present you with a small cross-section of the parking lot population:

The Speed Racer:
Scoffing at signs marked with limits obviously meant for more mortal men, these are the cars you see racing around the parking lot as though it were a monster truck rally. These people perturb me because they have a unique talent for leaving destruction in their wake as they joyride through the concrete ocean of cars. I'll never understand why the 3 girls in the Wal-Mart parking lot had to slam on their brakes to avoid hitting me when they got to the end of the row of cars. I'll never understand why I nearly saw vehicular manslaughter as two collegiate idiots swerved around a corner at my university's parking lot, swerved around 2 or 3 people walking right in front of me, and proceeded to dodge a car (The narrow avoidance of the people put them squarely in the side of the road typically designated for oncoming traffic)

These are the lowest of the low in the parking lot pecking order

The Multi-Parker:
These are the people whose car is too good for a mere one parking spot. No, indeed their car deserves somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 to 4 spots - they are just that special. In my apartment complex there is a guy in a truck whose vehicle easily fits in one spot... but he decides it not only takes 2 spots for his truck, but also he needs the spot right next to the stairwell when he does this to ensure he wins the title of "Most selfish guy in the upper parking lot" award.

Sometimes the Multi-Parkers will travel in herds, evidence can be seen at the local supermarket near my parent's house. All of the employees park in the same area which, to my knowledge, is not designated soley as employee parking. This also happens to be a parking area which is convenient to get to since it is right off the road and thus happens to be where I like to park. The funny thing is that most cars in this area are owned by multi-parkers, though I did once notice that two cars were nice and shared a space between them so that they only took 1.5 spaces each.

A slight annoyance, but otherwise harmless breed, the multiparker will live on through the ages I am sure.

Close Parkers:
These are more common in parking lots because it is very rare that somebody will be a habitual close parker, for some people parking is a hit and miss affair and they only like to take one shot at it. Close-Parkers are the ones that hang on or over the parking divider line and make you nervous as to whether you should park next to them for fear of injuring your car.

When the truck in the upper lot of the apartments is unable to fulfill his role as a multi-parker, he opts instead to be a close parker. I swear he is incapable of ever getting anywhere near the middle of any given parking spot, and of course he always does this at the good spots near the stairwell. I understand that sometimes people are in a hurry and can't be bothered to get their vehicle off the yellow line - but habitual close parkers need to learn how to straighten out.

I recently found the need to pick things up from my Apartment, sure enough the truck guy had struck again. Not once, but twice! When I arrived and was about to take a picture I saw somebody coming, it ended up being HIM! Good thing I was paying attention or there woulda been some "splainin' to do Lucy." Luckily he returned from wherever he went and allowed me to snag a couple pics.
 

The close parkers are a common breed and are usually only an annoyance in crowded parking lots.

Spot-Scavengers
Much like the Camping Anti-Walker, this breed of person is only content with the perfect spot. They can exhibit the same trait of waiting the better part of five minutes for somebody to get in their car and move out and are thus often confused with the Camping Anti-Walker. No, this breed will actually take things a step further. Often known to cruise endlessly down one row and up the next until they can find an empty spot or a shopper who has that "close spot glow" which they will follow step by step till he reaches his spot. Should they have falsely identified their prey they will quickly break chase the instant he leaves their ASCZ (Acceptable Store Circumference Zone)

Those of you wishing to view this breed in their natural habitat will be best served looking for full parking lots. Some prime locations include University Lots at midday, lots inolving major sporting events, or nearly any parking lot involving any sort of store of decent size at Christmas time.

The Illegals
This is a rare breed what with the illegality and all, but I would be remiss to not include them amongst the species listed. For whatever reason, in a hurry, curiosity, just because they can, these folks can be found parking in handicap spots when they aren't able to completely invent their own spot. One can't picture this breed without recalling the Seinfeld episode where George parked in a handicap spot which led to ever-so-comedic destruction.

Hey Look! A Blog!

Sorry its been so long since I've posted here, a dangerous combination of procrastination, sickness, moving, and international conferences with foreign dignitaries has prevented me from posting! ... Oh yea, and I was good at forgetting to post too, I'm good at forgetting stuff like this. I'll freely admit it was mostly a "I know what I want to write about but I'll do it later" syndrome though.

Grrr

I really really REALLY hate when hard drives go bad. I hate it even worse when the only thing of importance you forget to have backed up is your e-mail inbox. One day there is an E-Mail that you need, and you don't have it anymore, and life is very sad.

That day is today.

You see, I would like to make some changes to adsquirrel.com in order to update its information (One thing of note is that the administrative contact email no longer exists since the domain got snatched out from under me - thats a whole story of its own) and perhaps point it to some new nameservers.

There is one problem though: I can't remember the password to my account at the registrar. Well sure, I could just have their site email me my password except we run into the problem once again that the email they have on file no longer exists. I have my registration information on a hard drive that died half a year ago, not long after the last time I renewed this domain (and forgot to update the email info) - not only was the user/pass for the registrar happilly stored in IE, but I had the info in an email as well. The funny thing is that I have emails from BEFORE I had an account with them because part of the process of getting the computer working again (It was MAJORLY screwed up) involved cloning an even older 4GB HD. These Emails date near the account creation date, but not near enough :(

Oh well, I E-Mailed them explaining the problem I was having in accessing the account, hopefully I can get this all straightened out once and for all. Its nearly 4am, think its time to get some sleep.

Final Final Taken:
Summer is upon us!

Well, all done with finals for this semester! Today was the hardest of them, it involved no such animal as multiple choices, verification of the truth or false-ity behind statements, or an open invitation to search through text and notes for answers. No, indeed this one actually involved independent thought and the formulation of my own answers, though ironically enough this was the test I prepared for the least. My preparations were as follows: Stay up till 12am browsing the THorum and talking on MSN, sleep for 6 hours, browse THorum again, shower, etc etc... and eventually I got to the studying part for the 15 - 20 minutes I spent in McDonalds eating a McGriddle.

I suppose that to the untrained eye this would appear to be a gross waste of valuable preparation time, given the information that this was indeed the hardest of my tests... but really there wasn't much studying that could be done for it. The class is mostly concepts with a few definitions tossed in here and there to season the dish to perfection. Having already understood most of the concepts before they were taught, I was on fair footing from the get-go.

It’s been a dark, nasty, rainy, day and things were not boding well for having a successful test. This was the kind of day where you expect to meet your doom. I met up with a friend in the parking lot and walked to class with him, we discussed the many evil things which could pop up on the exam in addition to commenting on the aforementioned gloomy doomy day. Thankfully when we got the exam, none of our worst fears were realized. Indeed the worst problem during the test was when the McGriddle got into an argument with my body - I was a fool who dreamed of a Utopian world in which the two could co-exist in harmony. No such luck!

Test finished and the McGriddle debacle resolved, I walked back to my car letting the cool rain soak me as it pleased. It wasn't that I was helpless to stop it, I carry an umbrella in my bag at all times since rain is a common occurrence in this area. But the rain wasn't too heavy, wasn't too cold, and having just finished my final final... I just didn't care.

Update: Geology grade is in, I managed an A in there after all

Boo Friggin Hoo

I just finished my Geology Final, 2 down, 3 to go! As expected there were a couple questions that are almost certainly answered wrong, but there were enough right answers to get me an A or B in the course... thats without taking any curves into account.

On the way back to my car, which is a good 10 - 15 minute trek, I couldn't help but overhear a conversation going on nearby. I say I couldn't help but overhear because it was quite true - anybody in the surrounding mile couldn't help but overhear because this girl was yelling rather loudly.

From what I can gather, she "studied" with these two guys last night which involved them showing her a copy of an old test and her memorizing the answers. Needless to say, this didn't have the desired result or I wouldn't have a story to tell you of a stark raving mad female on the warpath. Whether she memorized them as "Question 32: B" or the actual answer seemed to be a matter of discussion, I have my suspicions that she was dumb enough to do the former.

Seriously though, how can she complain? If you paid 0 attention in the course, spent 0 hours studying, and used 0 common sense - if you end up with a 0 on the final whose fault is it? The guys who gave you the test you memorized? Heck no! Its your own fault for putting all your faith and knowledge into an old test! Cheating is a gamble, it can go well or it can go poorly - if you aren't willing to accept those odds going into the test then you should probably play it straight, at least that way you are more likely to get the grade you deserve. She didn't know anything, the final reflected that, isn't life terrible when it works out like it is supposed to?

Anyhow, after she was done yelling at her cohorts she stormed off right past me at a rapid pace proclaiming she would never talk to them again. I normally walk faster than the average pedestrian when I travel alone and she passed me pretty quickly, you could tell she was pissed. If this wasn't a big enough clue, you could once again hear how pissed she was as she pulled out her cell phone and proceeded to tell the victim on the other end of the phone all about it. Maybe she will learn her lesson and actually learn the stuff next time, I have a feeling she will have the opportunity to take this class again.

I Can't Lose

Just a quick note here, I have a Geology Final Exam to take in less than an hour. I took the time to calculate it out and found that even if I manage to get each and every single one of the 100 multiple choice questions wrong - I'll still pass with a C in the class. This, my friends, is a good feeling.

Cement Wasteland

Earlier today I made a pilgrimage to Wal-Mart to pick up a few odds and ends, mostly of the liquid variety as my fridge was feeling rather thirsty and I'm only in this apartment for another few days before summer break. I think its safe to say that the 24 pack of water, 12 pack of Pepsi Sí (Where did that Sí come from anyway? Stupid marketing!), 8 pack of Gatorade, Gallon of OJ, and Half-Gallon of Milk should last me till the end of this week.

I gathered these and other food items like a squirrel hording nuts for an impending harsh winter and headed for the checkout line. To my great fortune, there was a checker nearly finished completing a sale and by the time I had unloaded my bounty on the conveyer belt he was well prepared to begin ringing me up. A lady came in behind me and unloaded her stuff behind mine - I knew this would be trouble because she didn't use the black divider to separate our items, I would have offered one to her but there was not one to be found. Eventually he got to the end of the sale and sure enough, he had rung up cake mix on my bill while I was loading the water into my cart. This was no problem, I caught him in time and told him to take it off my bill. He did as instructed and gave the cake mix back to the lady who must have been staring into space because she sure didn't catch it.

My cart reloaded and paid for, I made my merry way across the vast expanse of cement which comprises the parking lot to my truck. I noticed as I began to unload my groceries that there was a car waiting for me, this always annoys me because I feel some sort of compulsion telling me that I need to go faster to let this guy into my spot when she could have just parked a bit further back. My fears were soon alleviated when I saw a car was moving out of the spot on the other side... wait... no. That spot wasn't good enough. So I continue unloading my groceries and just as I am loading the last of it in the car I see that she was actually waiting for a spot 2 spots away from the one I thought she would go for. In the time it took for her to claim this new spot which is what? 10 feet closer to the store? She could have been nearly INTO the store. Lady, if 10 feet one way or the other matters to you enough to sit there and wait more than 5 seconds then you might want to reconsider shopping in a humongous store. Just a thought.

Parking lots have lots of little things that occur in them like that which you could call "Pet Peeves" of mine. I'm all for the sense of victory you get when you find that spot 5 feet from the entrance of the store - but quibbling for more than 5 seconds on a parking spot 10 feet from an already open one is just plain silly. I typically start at the back of the parking lot and take the nearest open spot that is visible from the end of the line. It may not be the closest, but I don't mind a little extra walking.

Ah well, no harm done to me, I just don't understand the reasoning behind it. I went along my merry way back to the apartment and unloaded my groceries... I discovered something in the process of this banal task. The lady behind me at the checkout stand is going to return to Wal-Mart later, she needs to buy some flour.

Its 3AM I Must Be Lonely

Actually the title lies, its 3:40 AM and will be later yet by the time I finish writing this. Sorry to have deceived you, but I'm not about to change Matchbox Twenty's lyrics to suit the correct time.

Anyhow, I just thought I might point out to myself that in a past entry I promised to not only get the next program done early, but to do it over the weekend. Well, that didn't happen, and I am in fact starting this program LATER than last time. Lucky me this one is even easier still eh? The weekend thing got shot because I was home for the weekend, and ever since then I've just been putting it off till the last minute. I think that inside every one of us there is a procrasinator dying to escape - but he keeps putting it off till later.

Also, this entry serves to remind me to put up my story from Monday about how fixing a garbage disposal broke my TiVo. Most, if not everybody, who reads this blog have already heard the story via MSN messenger... but if they want to read it again who am I to stop them! Nobody, thats who. Now if you will excuse me, this 3:48AM rambling needs to come to a close so I can get my program done and catch a bit of sleep.

PS: Happy Birthday Mup!

Hey, its May!

Well we are 5 days into May without an entry... Well, I suppose its 4 days without an entry since on this, the fifth day, I have made an entry. Regardless I've been meaning to update with a greater frequency than I have.

Classes are winding down now, I can count the number of appearances in a classroom I need to make between now and Friday on one hand, and doing so brings me joy. I'm officially done with my Geology lab, what geology has to do with me being a Comp Sci major I don't know - they set the requirements and I follow them, it brings out my inner lemming. Anyhow, I got an A on that final and am now the proud owner of a nice, shiney, new A in the course. It will average in with my Geology class grade (Think 1/4 or 1/3 is from the lab) so hopefully I will be owning another A once the course is said and done.

This summer proves to be eventfully boring and terribly exciting at the same time. I have a trip or two I am looking forward to, and either summer classes or work (Or both!) to bring the harsh realities of life into the mix. But still I look forward to it, its nice to have a break every once in a while - plus in my book, earning extra money is never a bad thing.