mmmm... wireless

December 02, 2003 by Eric Richardson

One of the things that spurred my to get a laptop, as I've mentioned before, was USC's installation of a wireless network on campus (big, but cool, coverage map). I love the idea of working anywhere on campus, free from the restraints of my apartment or a computer lab. Today I feel like I finally sort of got a piece of that. I've been on campus since 9:30am. In that time I've been online in Doheny Library, sitting in a hallway in a hallway in Annenberg, in an Annenberg classroom, back in Doheny (where this time I found a power outlet), and now outside, sitting by a fountain. That's really cool to me.

My laptop battery's been a champ, too. In general I can expect a good 3 hours out of it, a little more if I really crank down power usage. If I got a second battery, I think this thing could really last me all day without having to carry around a cord. I'm fascinated by watching my power usage. Right now ACPI says I'm using 1.1A, which isn't that bad. I can squeeze it to about 0.8A if I'm not using wireless and have the screen brightness down low.

new in verbal

December 02, 2003 by Eric Richardson

So my paper's now done, and The Counter-Cultural Voice of Cinema is now posted in verbal intercourse. Now to print it and head to class, where tonight we're watching The French Connection.

work work work

December 02, 2003 by Eric Richardson

I've written a little over three pages of the paper I mentioned yesterday. I feel like I'm wandering a bit, but on the whole I'm pretty satisfied with how things are going. I headed back to that same room in Doheny to write today, and I really was productive, so I think there might be something to a place like that improving my ability to work. After the class I'm in right now I've got four hours before the class in which the paper is due, so time shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Part of my challenge next semester is to completely overhaul how I do schoolwork. I'm not a good student. I hate taking notes. I have an issue with doing reading, going to class, etc. But I've got three semesters left in which I need to bear down and make use of the advantages available to me. For instance, since I got my laptop I've been trying to figure out how to better take notes. Right now I'm using a program called hnb, which I like but which isn't perfect. I think best in outline format, so an outliner like hnb definitely works best for me. I love being able to export these outlines to HTML, which I can then access easily peruse later. The interface has some things I don't like, but it's the best I've seen for Linux for now.

crunch time...

December 01, 2003 by Eric Richardson

This is the part of the year where all of a sudden the bad choices you've made to put things off come back to haunt you. One more week of classes, then finals, then a break and a chance to start things fresh all over again. I changed the site look to add a little color. I think the grey reflected my general dislike of doing any work. I'm not saying my website colors influence my mood, but you've got to try whatever's there.

I'm sitting in USC's Doheny Library right now, in a high-ceilinged room that to me looks like the very picture of what an old library should be. This part of Doheny is grand and ornate. I'm here in the hopes that it inspires great work out of me. I love the quiet and the scale of everything.

Tonight I need to write a paper on how the counter-culture of the 60s and 70s influenced the films Five Easy Pieces, Day of the Dolphin, Midnight Cowboy, and Dr. Strangelove. I've got a bit of outlined notes, but in the next 21 hours those need to turn into six pages that really engage the films. My goal would be to get a full outline and a couple pages written tonight, and then to write the rest tomorrow in between classes. We'll see how that works out for me.

new in verbal

November 20, 2003 by Eric Richardson

I just put up a couple new things in verbal intercourse. It's two seperate works, but they're actually tied together. For what's basically a debate class, I had to give a speech proposing policy change, so I wrote one defending the public domain. I also had to write a rebuttal paper, which felt pretty wrong.