[2003.07.11 2318h]

   [music] push \\ tranzy state of mind [club mix]

so i'm still pretty infatuated with the song title i posted in the last
entry, but i suppose if i don't put up new titles of media until the end
of my infatuation for the previously mentioned one, i will probably post
few titles indeed.

today, i took a midterm and left early.  this is very unusual for me.  in
fact, this may be the first time in my stanford career in which i have
left a midterm early.  come to think of it, i can't even recall the last
time i left a test early, period.  my assumption is that i probably did it
at some point in my life before, but i'm not positive about that.

of course, i'm not counting the times when i've turned in take home exams
early.  also, there was this one time last quarter when the person who was
supposed to administer the final for a class didn't show up.  this caused
quite a bit of confusion amongst us students.  we eventually left after
waiting for about an hour, so i guess, in some sense, i left early.  but
i'm not counting this incidence, since there was no final for us to take
in the first place.

anyway, the reason why i left this midterm early was because i'm not
actually taking this class for credit.  i wanted to learn the material for
the class, but the problem sets seemed too tedious and the material seemed
easy enough to learn simply from the lectures anyway.

earlier this week, i was trying to decide whether or not to take the
midterm.  eventually, i decided to do so, since it would probably be good
feedback for me if the midterm is actually returned to me graded.  also,
i wanted to try taking a midterm in which my performance had no serious
consequences with regard to my grade in the class.  i must say that the
lack of stress i had going into the exam was very refreshing.

on a minor side note, the midterms in this class are actually called
quizzes.  i believe the reasoning behind this is because there are two of
them in this class, but from my perspective, a test for which one is given
75 minutes to complete is not really short enough to be considered a quiz.

anyhow, i've been spending most of today trying to get a wireless adapter
and a webcam set up on an old computer.  i found out last night that the
wireless adapter wasn't installing properly on the computer.  i eventually
gave up and called tech support.  after two calls, they referred me to
their e-mail division, which probably meant that they didn't have a clue.

i finally got the wireless adapter to work after a near complete
reinstall, but i think it's still being rather flaky, and now that i've
installed the webcam again, i'm not sure if the adapter's working anymore.

on a completely different note, i have discovered that veggies lightly
dipped in sweetened condensed milk make for a great snack.  of course, my
tastes may vary from yours, unless, of course, i'm the only person still
reading this web site.  i have only tried dipping asparagus and carrots,
but my assumption is that it can be done for most veggies that can be
eaten easily with one's hands.  i hesitate to try dipping, say, peas.