2001 [page 2]
Well, although it’s not really the week before the USC game, the festivities have already begun. The bear is hibernating for one. What this means is the bronze bear across from Ackerman is under a blue and gold box…hibernating. Also, the recruiters for the blood drive are swarming Bruin Walk.
I’m disappointed that DeShawn Foster decided to take gifts from donors although he “didn’t know it was wrong.” Now USC has a chance at beating us. However, Foster is only supposed to miss one game, the one this weekend against Oregon. Let’s hope.
Football practice at Howard Jones Field on the campus of the University of Southern California was delayed for nearly two hours on Monday afternoon when several players from the Trojan offense happened to notice an unidentified, white powdery substance on the field. Head coach Pete Carroll immediately suspended practice while the FBI was called in to investigate.
After a thorough field analysis, experts determined that the white substance unknown to the players was the goal line. Practice was allowed to resume when FBI Special Agents decided that the team would not likely encounter the substance again…
Man, you think living in the dorms at UCLA is bad? Try Stanford! I was talking with one of my friends, Sung, that lives there, and this is a story he told me:
Transcript (11/05/2001)
Sungjinee83: you guys should’ve seen my roommate…
webspiffy: what about yer roomie?
webspiffy: lemme guess…he’s like pappy*
Sungjinee83: so there’s this bottle of liquid on his desk for couple weeks.. I figure it’s beer or something… later he’s like… Oh I forgot to clean it.. turns out it’s his piss
webspiffy: omg
webspiffy: um ew
Sungjinee83: exactly
webspiffy: that’s really nasty
Sungjinee83: anyways, sometimes my roommate does things like that that’s just crazy
webspiffy: yes
Sungjinee83: so be glad you didn’t get him
*pappy = my friend at Boston University
That settles it. Hands down, I’ll take my room. God, that’s a beverage that just doesn’t go down smooth.
LucasFilm just released a new trailer for Episode II: Attack of the Clones entitled “Breathing” for Episode II with new movie footage and great shots of Natalie Portman. Ah she is so beautiful. The movie looks way better than Episode I, although Anakin looks like a total fairy. Didn’t see Jar Jar in the trailer but I know he’s there somewhere. Beware. The rendered shots look great and I recommend you check it out.
Finally the streak has stopped. Yeah yeah yeah it would have been great for New York to have a title to boost their spirits. So cheer for the Knicks. I’m so tired of the Yankees. They are simply a money team. Buy the supposedly best players and the team should win, right? That’s not baseball; that’s a corporation. Well, the monopoly just lost the anti-trust suit. Although I’m not a Diamondbacks fan, they are the lesser of two evils. So I tip my hat and hope that Schilling is named MVP.
As you probably know, the Bruins lost to Washington State on Saturday. It was awful. We were down by three, with a chance to win the game, and Cory Paus threw yet another interception. I think he threw about 5 during the game. Well, you play like that and you don’t deserve a championship.
Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlain from the Smashing Pumpkins have formed a new band called the True Poets of Zwan. They are playing their first shows in L.A., on four dates. I really want to go the show at the Roxy on November 21, but tickets sold out. I was really pissed because on their web site, it says tickets for that show went on sale November 2nd. They didn’t. Instead, they were sold the 1st, and I had no chance at getting them.
Who knows, though. I might be able to find somebody in the area that actually has tickets. I talked with a guy on IRC and he said he has some extras. The plus is that he is a student at UCLA too. Hmmm…..this might work out. Nevertheless, I need a ride from my friend Ryen, or I have to cab it. I don’t really want to cab it because it is the day before Thanksgiving, and I would have to change my flight info, etc. Driving up to Marin would be a much more viable alternative.
Well, I had been to Knott’s Berry Farm, but never the Scary Farm. Every October, Knotts transforms its park into a goulish realm, complete with fog machines, elaborate mazes, and live shows. All of my friends who had gone liked it, and when I had an opportunity to go, I jumped on it. Our floor PA, Jasmine, organized a floor event which actually ended up being a hall event. She planned on having Dykstra 2 alone go to Knotts, but we ended up having all of Dykstra. So off we went on a yellow school bus, with 80 kids yelling at once playing annoying bus games. Ah it was like elementary school.
However, it was a little fun for me being on the bus, riding on the familiar 91 and 405 freeways, almost like it was a trip back into the past. For those of you that don’t know, I used to live in Orange County before I moved up north to Marin. I actually didn’t mind the ride that much.
When we got there, I noticed that the Chicken Dinner Restaurant (yes, that’s the name) was offering a midnight buffet. I had a little desire to go there and experience their delicious fried chicken once again, but in the end I missed out.
The first thing I saw in the park was the live show, which spoofed horror movies and current stars. I thought it was pretty entertaining to see the cast of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon get mauled by Jason. Even the band girl from American Pie couldn’t hold her own.
After the live show, we hit our first maze of the night. Man was it, and all of them, impressive. The first maze was a tribute to Hollywood horror flicks, with the Cryptkeeper presiding over the lobby of a movie theater (actually a converted food stand). I thought he was a robot. Actually, he was real. Inside, Mark and I were assaulted by numerous movie villains, from Jason to Chuckie. Mark got a couple of good scares. One time, his attention was diverted by a villain whose name I cannot recall. After that, he turned around, only to be face to face with the blade of the killer from Scream. It was great. He yelped. A couple of the other guys got me pretty well, but not as bad as Mark got it. I was amazed at how massive the mazes were. You spent 15 minutes in each one.
Knotts was pretty crowded for the park at night, and when I went on the first ride, Ghostrider, I ended up waiting in line over an hour. My friend Mark, who I hung around with at the park, got impatient as well. However, I remembered that Ghostrider was a good wooden coaster, and it still was. The first drop is still very steep as is the last one. You get thrown around on the last curves of the ride like crazy, and it was very fun.
After Ghostrider, I believe I went on Jaguar, which is fun but not as good as it used to be. Of course, Knotts slowed down Jaguar when it made too much noise. When the ride was actually fast, it could be heard across the park. Now, it’s a kiddie ride. However, after Jaguar, Mark and I went on Montezooma’s [sic] Revenge, the simple single loop coaster complimented by two ends of track that stick hundreds of feet into the air. For you physics nerds, Montezooma’s Revenge is actually the most intense ride in the park. In the loop, depending on where you sit, you can feel up to 6 G’s of force. That’s pretty damn good, I think. I ended up going on it twice, once in the middle and once in the back. In the middle you feel the most force in the loop. However, the back is more fun because you go much higher on the last peak of the ride, where you are forced to look straight down. It’s a rush.
After those two, we went to the Underground maze, which was short but impressive. It was very loud, with heavy metal music. All of the guys in costume looked like people at a TOOL concert. I like the revolving cylinder they had there, which was a bit hyponotic. You had to walk through it. At one point, the maze was completely black, and I got stuck. After about a minute or two, I realized that I had to go left…d’oh!
Next came Boomerang. Of course, Mark and I had to sit in the back. If you’ve never been on Boomerang before, the beginning is the scariest part of the ride. They crank you all the way up the track into the air, a couple of hundred feet high. Then they drop you. You go screaming into a corkscrew loop then a couple of circular loops. After that, you hit the track that rises into the air and go through the whole thing again backwards. It’s a great ride.
After Boomerang, I went on a ride with a nautical name (that I can’t remember). It is a green ride with marine designs that takes you into the air and spins you around while going through loops. Essentially you twist in a corkscrew while revolving in a circle. That ride is intense. At one point, the ride stops at the top of its loop then starts turning over and over. It’s really creepy. You are suspended about a hundred feet in the air and you are doing barrel rolls. At the end of the ride, it does the same thing, this time at the bottom of the loop. However, it stops while you are completely upside down. Man did my head get messed up.
At some point in time, we did go in Malice in Wonderland, which was totally awesome. It looked like the house in The Game, decked out in blacklights and glow-in-the-dark tempora paint. All of the Alice characters were there, including the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat. It was massive, spanning at least ten rooms. I think it took us twenty minutes to get through it.
Finally, Mark and I went on Bigfoot Rapids (a water ride) at 12:30 PM. It was sweet. They turned off the waterfalls, thankfully, and we didn’t get too wet. I got splashed on my jacket a bit, but Mark got his pants all wet. On the ride back he kept complaining. D’oh!
I had a blast at Knotts and encourage everyone to go to it next year. I think the night I went was the last night, but it may run through tonight as well. Definitely go to it if you have a chance.
Sigh. That silly but lucky football team, Stanford, the team without a mascot, managed to surge past our mighty bruins into the 6th slot. We, however, were bumped all the way down to 9. Oh it is a day that will live in infamy!
Are you a fan of digital music? Of course you are. Well, the best play to experience new tunes is via IRC (Internet Relay Chat). You may be using Morpheus now, but trust me — if you know how to use IRC, Morpheus will never run on your computer again. I myself first started using IRC about a year ago, and the thing is addictive. While you can’t do searches and instantly find what you’re looking for (on most IRC servers), you can find albums you want while just sitting back and watching them scroll in front of you. This may sound strange now, but by the end of the guide, it will all make sense.
Getting Started
First, you need a client. I recommend mIRC. It’s easy to set up and easy to use. While some other clients, such as the Polaris modification of mIRC, offer more features, mIRC is the most popular, stable, and overall good. While mIRC is not freeware, you can use it for free. Occasionally your web browser will open to the mIRC web site if you don’t register. No big deal.
Now that you have the program, you need to configure it. Open mIRC then click File / Options.
Connect
Under the Connect menu, specify whatever you want in Full Name. Don’t actually use your full name. For example, use ucla bruins own you as your name. It’s just something that other IRC users can see. Under E-Mail Address, just enter your e-mail. Now it’s time to pick your nickname. I recommend making your nickname no longer than 9 characters, since some IRC servers will truncate your nick. Don’t use a really common name. Most likely, you won’t be able to log on under it. Just experiment. Be sure to pick a secondary nick name, which is used in case your primary nick name is already taken when you sign on. Not really a big deal.
Options
Make sure reconnect on disconnection is disabled. Some servers really hate it if you use that and will ban you.
Local Info
Leave the first two boxes alone. Where is says On connect, always get:, make sure that both Local Host and IP Address are enabled. Under Lookup Method, select Server.
Identd
Make sure both Enable Ident server and Enable only when connected are enabled.
Firewall
Leave this submenu alone unless you use some funky firewall stuff. I can’t help you because I don’t use a hardware firewall.
IRC
When you first start using IRC, you don’t need to change any of the options under IRC. If you want to mess around with them, feel free.
Options
Make sure Hide Ping/Pong is enabled. Under the closing mIRC box, just check whatever you think is important. Make sure that DCC transfers is selected.
Perform
Right now this box should be blank.
Highlight
Make sure Enable Highlighting is disabled. I still don’t use it.
Messages
You can leave everything alone.
Catcher
mIRC properly configures this.
Logging
This isn’t really that important. If you want to run stats, make sure Logging is enabled and that Strip codes is selected as well. Most people don’t run stats.
Flood
If you don’t want IRC to crash, use Flood Protection. However, it slows down the listing of files. I have it turned off.
Sounds
I’m not a big fan of IRC sounds. Most of the time it just sounds like your computer is breaking. I recommend turning it off.
Requests
Just leave this the way it is.
Agents (WinMe & XP Only)
If this is enabled, it really slows down your computer. Just keep it off.
Mouse
Everything under this section comes configured correctly.
DCC
This section is super important. Be sure to read all of it. This explains how to transfer files correctly via IRC. Under DCC I suggest having the first option set to Show get dialog. Auto-accept can cause you to get viruses if you’re not careful. Under Auto-get and exists make sure Resume is selected.
Options
For most people, this is already configured correctly.
Folders
This one is also really important. Normally mIRC saves your files to your IRC directory under download, which is typically c:\mIRC\download. If you configure default by clicking edit, you can decide where to save files. It’s kinda cool. Try messing with it. Under DCC Ignore, make sure it is set to Ignore all except. This way you won’t get viruses. Now, in the blank white box below it, make sure that the following file types exist: M3U, MP3, NFO, RAR, SFV, TAR, ZIP. To add a file type if it is not there, just simply type <filename>. For example: .mp3. That’s it. Turn ignore on should be set to 3 minutes and enabled.
Fserve
Leave as configured by mIRC.
Server
Make sure DCC Server is disabled. This way nobody can access your computer.
Now you have properly configured mIRC. If you want to play around with the colors, go ahead. It’s not crucial. Now you are set to download.
Downloading
I strongly recommend connecting to EFNet if you are new to IRC. Just to File / Options again and under the Connect menu, select EFNet under IRC Servers. Just connect to any EFNet server that works. Try it out.
After that, you have to connect to a channel. To connect to a channel, simply type /j #channel. For example, /j #movies. Here are some of the channels I recommend for MP3 (get a pen): #albums, #apcfiles, #chrfiles, #egoxdcc, #ksifiles, #mp3hqdcc, #revfiles, and #twcmp3. Recently, many of these groups closed their download channels. If it says invite only, the channel is closed. So how do you download you ask? Simple.
You must communicate to a DCC bot. Most DCC bots can be identified by their name. For example, apc bots will have names like aPC|DCC00 and aPC|DCC01. REV likes to go by REV-DCC01 or REV-DCC35. It’s really simple to identify them. Most DCC bots have a little + next to their name. This + means that they are voiced and can broadcast to the channel.
So how do you talk to a bot? Well, you use the /msg command. Simply type /msg <bot name> xdcc send #<pack number>. Confusing? Here’s an example: /msg apc|dcc00 xdcc send #1. Well how do you know what pack to download? Also simple. Simply view the contents of the bot using XDCC list. Here’s how you do it: /msg <bot name> xdcc list. Example: /msg apc|dcc0 xdcc list. It’s really easy.
Just experiment a little bit and you’ll get the hang of it. If you’re having trouble, send me an e-mail. I don’t like to give my IRC nick out publicly.
Enjoy the guide and happy downloading.
Well this year I can’t even have fun on good ol’ October 31st thanks to a midterm. Yes I have a history midterm bright and early at 9:30 tomorrow morning. Oh joy oh rapture. So while you’re out stealing candy from senior citizens, please keep me in your thoughts. Back to the books…
Be glad you weren’t there.
For Bruins who sat at home or in their dorms watching the fateful game against the Stanford Tree…the loss wasn’t nearly as painful as watching it from several yards away.
For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, the Bruins took on Stanford “we still don’t know what our mascot is or what our stadium is called” University’s football team on Saturday, 10/27. What ensued was a bloodbath, with blue and gold spilling onto the field instead of red. The Stanford offense simply blew by our defense, bringing back memories of the Bruin defense from the past few years. I don’t think I saw any of the Bruin defense sack the quarterback…or even get anywhere close to him. And when the Bruins had the ball…uh…wait, we had the ball? Needless to say, our time of possession amounted to less than half of the game. Very few completions, lots of incompletes, and believe it or not, several interceptions, which Stanford took absolute advantage of, taking off with the ball. DeShaun Foster, our main man, did not play at his best, rushing straight into the melee at times for some unknown reason. At one point in the game, we were within three points of matching Stanford, and it looked like we could take over the lead. But no, a Hail Mary pass into the end zone gave Stanford the ball, and they ended up with a touchdown. Final score: 38-28, Stanford.
Be glad you weren’t there.
I was fearing this test more than my calc one. We covered three and a half chapters of solid chem, including quantum mechanics and wave interference. There was a lot the professor could have thrown at us on the test. I studied for about two days straight, completing all the homework assignments over the course of those days. Note: I did this on purpose, not unintentionally. I did not slack on my homework…I did all the Mastering Chem assignments, etc. I waited to do the book homework right before the test as a good review.
When I got the test in my hand, I was actually surprised at how easy it was. The test was way simpler than I expected. That doesn’t mean I aced it…it was just way less than what I expected. I think most midterms are like that. My roommate said the same thing about his test. Hmmm….I smell a conspiracy.
Author’s Note: This is a guest article by Mark Chen.
Well, what an incredible day…evening…two days? It’s currently 4:20 AM , and we have finally given up on hall decorations for the day/night/morning. Really, I’m surprised and shocked at the amount of non-work D2 has put in…especially compared to D8. Hopefully people will finish their sections tomorrow (ahemxmenahem) and in time for the judging.
All-Hill Halloween, for those unfamiliar with the event, is an event that is held each year by the Office of Residential Life (ORL), where children from the “ghetto” portions of LA are bussed out to the dorms to trick-or-treat since their own neighborhoods aren’t safe. I think it’s a great idea, and the decorating bring the floor together…or, it’s supposed to. Too bad this always happens around Week 4, the week that everyone has midterms on!
And as a side note, Hi, I’m Mark, Mike’s neighbor from down the hall. I will post to Mike’s weblog at various intervals, but will post more frequently to my own site, Dykstra 232 East. Come by and visit sometime!
This was my first midterm at UCLA, and while it was hard, I was surprised at its level of difficulty. Simply, I was expecting more. We were allotted an hour and a half for the test and I burned through the first five questions in twenty minutes. The rest of the time I spent working on the last problem, which wasn’t that hard, just tricky. I’m not sure if I got it right but I got an answer that seems reasonable, so I’m sure I’ll get partial credit. The nice thing about midterms at UCLA is that you have plenty of time.
With many pre-season basketball magazines and sources listing UCLA as a Top 10 team, the outlook on the Bruins’ 2001- 2002 season is bright. Returning starters Jason Kapono, Dan Gadzuric, and Matt Barnes should turn out be a force to be reckoned with. Also returning for their Senior seasons are guards Ray Young and Billy Knight and forward Rico Hines. UCLA’s freshman class is one of the most talented in the nation, consisting of Redondo High product Dijon Thompson, Mater Dei’s Cedric Bozeman, and Washington Prep start Andre Patterson. The only dark spot on the Bruin’s National Championship hopes is the loss of All-American Candidate and leader Earl Watson, who was key in the Bruin success of last year.
Head coach Steve Lavin, in his sixth year at UCLA, has prooved that his Bruin teams can play with the likes of North Carolina, Maryland, and Duke (as well they should), and UCLA plays its best basketball during the post-season. This is, of course, true if the Bruins can stay healthy and out of trouble, for in his tenure at UCLA, several players have been injured (Hines, Gadzuric, etc) and many have had conflicts in personality and off the court problems.
This year’s success hinges on many aspects of the team. First of all, someone, preferably Gadzuric or Kapono must step up and fill the leadership position left by Watson. This is key. UCLA teams have historically suffereed greatly without a leader (ie. Baron Davis’ and Tyus Edney’s departure left holes in the UCLA teams of the past). The Bruins must also play more consistently. Last year, Lavin’s teams seem to fluctuate between red-hot and ice-cold, as one game they would destroy teams by thirty, and the next almost meet disaster at the hands of lowly UC Santa Barbara. Gadzuric needs to continue to be a physical force in the paint (as he became toward the end of last year) and Kapono to continue honing his skills in passing, dribbling, and footwork. If all goes well, the UCLA Bruins should find themselves in the thick of a National Championship game, but if not… well, we shall see.
All right! I managed to finially get my fridge this weekend, a nice 2.5 cubic foot one. Ahh, how lovely it is to have a fridge. And to top it off, my parents were nice enough to buy me a 13″ Toshiba TV as well. Nice.
In the last couple of years, the Golden Bears, always the underdogs when it comes to football, managed to upset the mighty Bruins. Our undefeated team, lead by Deshawn Foster and Cory Paus, managed to buck the trend. The game started out close. Cal managed to drive down the field early, breaking away on what looked like a 40-yard run. However our defense managed to hold them and they only got a field goal.
We countered with a quick touchdown. Cal followed suit, and took the lead back, 10-7. It looked like we had a real game on our hands for once at the Rose Bowl. The last home game, against Washington, was a blow out from the start. Cal seemed to be willing to put up a fight.
However, that was the last touchdown they scored for a long time. We managed to drive up and down the field until we reached a massive 56-points, the largest I have seen at the Rose Bowl recently. It was great.
The Cal stands started to file out by the start of the fourth quarter. I went to talk to one of my friends in the Cal band, and she was still there, surprisingly. The band was having fun even though their Golden Bear was getting trounced. It was a great day for a game.
This weekend was Parents weekend, and the Chancellor put on a free dinner outside Gate F, complete with pasta and dessert. Mmm….tiramisu. It was a great time.
And to top it off, we trounced Cal. Always a good thing.
Game recap
Our mighty Bruins faced a formidable foe on Saturday, the Washington Huskies, decked out in their fearsome purple pants. The game wasn’t even close from the start. We scored three consecutive touchdowns in the first quarter, blowing the game wide open. It was a truly great game. The band was into it the whole time, and completely dead after the game. Heisman potential #26 broke away for a 92-yd touchdown that was a sight to behold. We gave up a few easy touchdowns to Washington, two in fact, but they failed to convert on one of the extra points. In the end, we won 35-13, a solid margin. By now we should be ranked #6, most likely in all of the polls.
Keep an eye out for the BCS poll, which comes out sometime this week. You should see us at #6.
Bomb threat
In what appeared to be a fight at the Rose Bowl was actually a bomb threat. A man from Santa Monica claimed that he was going to blow up the Rose Bowl. In fact, he didn’t even have anyting on him, and two students hauled him into the authorities. Nothing big, but still scary.
Just go into Westwood, usually down Westwood Blvd. and you’ll see people handing out blue or yellow flyers. Be sure to take one. They are your pass into getting into press or advance screenings of movies. I went to one last night…K-Pax…it was really fun.
I had seen Spy Game a few months prior to this screening and I actually liked this one better because I didn’t have to write a survey. The other nice thing is that once you go to one, it’s really easy to get access to other movies. Most of the time they hand out sheets at the theater.