Author Archive for David Lee

Computer Science Club Gaming Club vs. Gaming Club

Published
by
David Lee
on September 12, 2008
in Computer
. 2 Comments

It’s been a while since I last posted… Many things have happened since the Rocket Launch like the Long Beach Grand Prix, backpacking at Big Pine Lakes, vacation in Hawaii, a new iPhone 3G (currently being sent back to Apple… more on that later. Maybe), School starting (Java class… ugh), and now I finally choose to blag about the least interesting of them all.

It was on the recommendation of my counselor that I join the Computer Science club to benefit my transfer application. Curious to see the difference between my high school Computer Club–which turned out to be an assortment of pasty, pimply, and stale dorks who only played computer games, and the City College Computer Science Club. I had hopes that I’d be able to get together with some eager students and collaborate on fun programming projects. Within the first few minutes of the first meeting I realized this was not the case.

For about an hour the advisor (a middle-aged bachelor) was leading an argument about what to do with the Gaming Club members that want to partake in the open-for-all Computer Science Club LAN parties. I was thoroughly dissatisfied by the end of the meeting. The only thing that was established was that the Gaming Club is the Computer Science Club archnemesis. Needless to say, I probably won’t be going back. It was a lame waste of my time.

Atlas V, a rocket in the sky

Published
by
David Lee
on April 12, 2008
in Science
. 2 Comments

I felt like I had something to prove in the section of my life that involves early morning ventures to the top of the mountain to see spacecraft activities after Shane Swenson, Courtney Bone, Carmyn Gamma, and myself drove up to La Cumbre Peak at 4:30 AM to watch the space shuttle Columbia re-enter the atmosphere and missed it (or were unable to see it?).

I made it a point to get up at 2:00 AM, leave the house by 2:30 AM, arrive at La Cumbre Peak by 2:50 AM, and witness the launch at 3:02 AM.  I expected to wait at least a little bit longer than 3:02 AM for the launch, but was pleasantly surprised when it launched the second my synchronized watch hit 3:02:00 AM.  Vandenberg AFB is just slightly out of direct line of sight from La Cumbre Peak so I saw a vertical flash of light swiftly make its way over the ridge to the town.  It was spectacularly bright for being so far away.  It appeared to be making a vertical path from my perspective, but it quickly layed over into it’s intended trajectory.  The initial boosting flames bore bright orange/yellow switched to a reddish orange tint and became smooth and thin, probably due to switching fuel and increased acceleration.

It was actually quite surprising to see how fast it actually accelerated.  Comparing this to the Delta launch a little while ago, this was downright fast.  It seemed like only a matter of seconds before it wasn’t able to be seen any longer.

Attempting HDR imaging

Published
by
David Lee
on March 1, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 3 Comments

For those of you not in the loop, HDR is High Dynamic Range, a photographic technique that drastically increases the dynamic lighting range in an image. Most cameras (almost all, if not all) cameras have a significantly limited dynamic range compared to the human eye. This means that the brightest brights and the darkest darks are far inferior in an photograph than you actually perceive through your eyes. HDR tries to bring this to reality, by synthetically producing a higher-than-normal dynamic range by comparing sets of over and underexposed images and producing a composite image. This process almost overlaps sets of images on each other while attempting to broaden the dynamic range of the final photo.

So, I tried this with my lovely Nikon DSLR. My outdoor pictures were not that great because the wind made it hard to capture a consistent image, though my indoor delicious cookie photo did much better.

Check out the original “proper” exposure:

And the HDR:

Notice the dramatic increase in the level of detail in the HDR image compared to the original.

You may be seeing more of this.

It’s that time of month again…

Published
by
David Lee
on February 29, 2008
in Automotive
. 2 Comments

Yes, it’s that time of month when my little girl is on her period.

It seems that I have to fill ‘er up with gasoline at the end of every month.  But before I do, she always acts cranky around me.  For example, she has problems starting up–most likely a loss of fuel pressure or failing cold-start injectors (or a combination of both).  To preemptively remedy this, I usually flood the engine before I turn it off, that way she gets extra fuel to play with when cranking off the ignition.

But all these problems are resolved when I fill up her tank.  Plus, I get better throttle response.  Though, with her recent weight loss, the additional fuel weight means retarded braking and lamer steering.

I suppose I should officially give her a name…  though one thing is for certain: she is a girl.

Because you know that’s how I like my women: cranky and always leaking gas.

New MacBook

Published
by
David Lee
on February 25, 2008
in Computer
. 3 Comments

So this is how things are supposed to work.

It’s been a while that I have had my eyes on the MacBook. Fortunately, the retarded CompUSA decided to go out of business, and I got in on the liquidation. All Macs were 15% off, which is something that never happens. At this point in time, their stock was quite low, though I managed to pick up the black MacBook with only two remaining.

As a Linux enthusiast and Microsoft System Specialist, I have been continuously exposed to different environments–including their flaws and benefits. I side with Linux on this issue because things tend to work the way I want them to work. Windows tends to not work the way I want it to work, often leading to performance issues or BSoD (and Apple is aware of this: see SMB Shares icon).

With Mac being a BSD UNIX OS, strikingly similar to Linux, I see many benefits of using it. For one, the software provided is generally better than the software available for Linux, though software available for Linux tends to be ported to Mac quite often. In addition to being UNIX, the internets tend to work better, like such as, formula1.com. On Linux, this site was slow and all the features were somewhat confusing to navigate around. In Mac, it is displayed probably how it was intended to be displayed. And it is fast.

Some might ask, do you regret spending the approximate value of your left kidney to purchase a MacBook?

No. My kidneys are self regenerating.

Thank you for reading. Peace out lil’ scouts.

I am one step closer to having the mind of a Formula One driver

Published
by
David Lee
on February 13, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 2 Comments

Santa Barbara City College is known for its top notch professors, its beautiful campus, and the lack of financial burden it places on its students. It is less known for overly demanded parking spaces and fascist parking administrators. Finding a parking spot can be a tricky and lengthy procedure, though luck is always welcomed.

So this is my story on Tuesday morning, before class…

I had full intentions to arrive at school earlier than normal so I could go to the bookstore to purchase an atlas of the Middle East, so I left home at around 8:30 (class starts at 9:35). It took about eight minutes to get to the Pershing Park parking lot, which was perfectly normal. Once in the parking lot, I began to realize how wasteful my previous luck with finding parking spots had been (taking less than two minutes to get a spot, or even spotting a vacant spot and beating traffic). I got fed up with Pershing Park and headed to the two lower lots, but had no luck. Several minutes later I decided to go back to Pershing Park with a fresh hope. How quickly hope fades. It seemed like forever. The temperature was starting to rise, now about 90 degrees in my car with no A/C or fans. There it was, the legitimate glory. I spotted a green Jetta with reverse lights in the ideal row, right next to the stairs to the campus. I hurried toward the car with my blinker on, but saw another car in the opposite direction also hurrying. I definitely had my blinker on first. And I was there first. I took a look at the opposition: a fat girl wearing a sweater (probably using her stupid A/C) in a modern Honda Accord. Time seemed to be at a standstill, but eventually the Jetta’s reverse lights illuminated and backed out in the direction favoring the fat girl’s entry, where she could just follow the Jetta’s path right into the spot. Knowing with a conviction that this spot was mine, I could not let that happen. As soon as the Jetta started to drive away, I quickly released the clutch with a careful right foot, then immediately (and intentionally) braked, and then continued into the spot like I meant it. When the fat girl saw my darting right as she started to go, she backed off and went defensive. I clearly let her self-preservation instincts prevent her from being hit by a rusty German machine. I was proud. I am proud. I have no regrets.

The fat girl drove off clearly befuddled and frustrated. She even did a vicarious victory lap for me, though I’m sure she was making some obscene hand gestures at me, but I pretended not to notice.

And here is my visual representation of the action. Not drawn to scale.

Nevertheless, I was unable to purchase my atlas of the Middle East, and I was late to class by about ten minutes.

A new year, a new resolution

Published
by
David Lee
on January 1, 2008
in Domestic
. 4 Comments

I hadn’t realized it was New Years’ Eve until my co-worker let me know the office would be closed today.  I’m not too big on resolutions or anything like that, mostly because I know I will immediately forget about them and continue a normal and unrestrained lifestyle.  This year I will make an effort to actually follow my resolution, which I have already planned out.  The resolution is this: sell, return, and exchange products purchased from either backcountry.com or steepandcheap.com, and use the money to buy even cooler gear.  I came up with this brilliant resolution when I was looking through my order history at backcountry.com and steepandcheap.com and noticed the total of 24 purchases in the last two years.  In some senses it seems like a great accomplishment to have a multi-page order history, but in reality it is a disappointment–I only averaged one SAC purchase per month.  I can do better.

So, I publicly make this resolution to increase my SAC average purchase rate by buying more with the money I get from sales and returns.  Yes, I know it is retarded to return gear to buy more gear, but due to the impulsive nature of SAC, I have made some pretty retarded purchases–mostly because I can’t try things on over the internet.  Some things like a ZOIC Sportwool biking shirt which still has the cardboard tag on it, or my Arc’teryx delegate shorts which is too short for even Canadians.

And if any of you were wondering about the return policy, I had a great chat with Gearhead which, as a friendly mountain goat, told me that I could return and exchange anything for a full refund including items “30 years old and dragged through the mud by a camel”.  How nice of the goat.  I have a feeling I will be taking more than a few extraneous items when I go to the MLK SLC get together.

Some items I am contemplating purchasing with this steady income are:

  • Deuter Futura Vario 50 + 10 L backpack
  • - or - Osprey Atmos 50 L backpack
  • - or - Mountain Hardwear Trance 55 L backpack
  • - or - Arc’teryx Needle 55 L backpack (only on sale, or SAC if possible)
  • The North Face Lifty GTX 400
  • Black Diamond Winter Bivy
  • - or - Mountain Hardwear Conduit SL Bivy

And that is only part of my Winter 2007/2008 list…

New training regime

Published
by
David Lee
on December 16, 2007
in Uncategorized
. 4 Comments

As Shane deserted me to pursue his own desires in Utah, I have been found partnerless in climbing, hiking, slacklining, and world domineering. Without the natural incentive to get outside and see the light of day, I have been mentally imprisoned in my solitary confinement. So, I decided I will set forth a new training regime: hike at least once a week, preferably on a new trail, no matter the weather conditions. Last week I decided to do a familiar route just to hone my navigation senses up rattlesnake canyon. Instead of the three hours it took Mom and I (including the slight detour), I did this one in an hour and a half. Not too much of an improvement, but I did it without trail running.

Anyway… That’s what I’ll be doing.

Finals: The Second Day (er…)

Published
by
David Lee
on December 11, 2007
in Humor
. 1 Comment

With a full and justifiable purpose to take my Math final today, I decided to head off to school about an hour before the final started. Luckily, the parking lots are unusually empty for some unknown reason. I found a parking spot and went to the cafeteria/lounge where I could go over some notes with the usual math crowd that hangs around there. Well… Mark, who usually sits behind me was there, but looked curiously at me. I gave him a curious glare right back at him. He explained to me that the final was not today (er…), but was rather on Thursday at the same time. I looked through my notes, noting the sever lack of dating, only to realize he was right. So I went back home.

Squirrel ArmorDoing nothing particularly useful, I found an interesting site… Apparently this guy makes armor for various things. As my favorite aunt noted, this would be an excellent Christmas present for the dogs, Linus and Rigby. With this, their barks would actually mean something.

The 660 second final and the double final

Published
by
David Lee
on December 10, 2007
in Uncategorized
. 4 Comments

Ah yes, this is the first round of actual college finals for me. Today I had both Computer Science and Political Thinking finals today. Doing absolutely no studying for the Computer Science final, I did an outstanding job at finishing the 100 [ridiculous] question exam in 660 seconds, or 11 minutes. My original goal was to finish in 1000 seconds, or 16.66 minutes, but I never really took into account the amount of duplicate questions. And no, Jackie (the instructor) doesn’t have the capacity to put in trick questions that are worded with slight differences that turn the meaning backwards. Nope. She had the exact same questions repeating over and over in different places in the test–probably to make it look like it was unintentional. And yes, there were a few Google questions on there. I really wish I had a copy of the exam so I could word everything verbatim, but when you are doing 6.6 seconds per question, it is quite hard to remember the questions verbatim. Here are a few common questions that kept coming up:

The following is an example of a search engine:

a) Newspaper

b) CPU - Central Processing Unit

c) Google

d) HTML

e) ARPANET

or

Something that specifically tells the program what to do is called a(n):

a) bug

b) implementation

c) instruction

d) remote

e) calculator

and so on… I’m pretty sure the latter question was repeated at least five times in the exact wording.

On the subject of the Political Science final, I had a large gap from 11:11 AM to 2:00 PM, so I studied a bit, walked around for a while, studied a bit more, walked a bit more, until it was time for my doom. This final required two blue books, and the subject matter was not discussed at all in the lecture, so we had to know everything about everyone we studied. Luckily for me, I articulated Aristotle and Plato while writing my 9 page paper last week, so I had a decent amount of knowledge on the roots of political thinking. Anyway, unlike the CS final, it took me nearly the entire allotted two hours to write about both prompts. But, in the end I managed to survive, though I actually had a better feeling on this final than on the midterm, on which I got a 95%. Assuming I get at least 85% on my paper, I will need to get 70% or better on the final to get a B. The rest is up for speculation I suppose.

Now I only have three midterms left. Whee.