Wednesday, November 30, 2011

2011.11.30 Wednesday

Ah, the last day of the eleventh month. Approaching the final month of 2011. I need some vacation.

Lengthy day of work, then class came up. We picked chinese food for dinner (again). We don't really have many options any more. Fortune of the day: Your curious nature will take you somewhere special. NICE.

Back home, watched some Mythbusters and did more work. Good times.

2011.11.29 Tuesday

Started off needing to get gas. Dangit, I forgot to get some last night. That puts me driving in more of the rush.

Long work day. Nicely broken up by some volleyball over lunch. Mark was generous enough to get some Popeyes for lunch, so I had a nice warm meal waiting for me when I was done.

Picked up some chick fil a on the way home, then started cranking away on homework until late into the night.

Monday, November 28, 2011

2011.11.28 Monday

I woke up too easy this morning. I felt like I couldn't fall asleep last night. I was watching Episode VI for the second time. The cool air made me not want to get out of bed though.

Once home, did some more ab ripper x. I have to admit that it is easier to push myself through the exercises now that I pushed myself to make this more regular. I'm starting to consider actually jumping into the P90x workout. It really is a time commitment, but I may have some more time once this school semester is over. I may be more inclined to do it if somebody out there says I should...

2011.11.27 Sunday

Kelc left rather early this morning. I stayed cozy in bed until about noon. It's starting to get chilly out, finally. Fall was here for about a week, now winter is knocking at the door, and I bed in a couple weeks we will be able to walk around in shorts and t-shirts for a few days again. Texas weather is so crazy.

I cleaned up a little more from the party, ate some leftovers, watched Star Wars, and packed up some "non-essentials" to take over to my future (or past) residence (depending on how you look at it).

Went over to my parents and enjoyed some turkey soup, then helped adjust some things and figure out how I'm going to actually fit all my junk. It's going to be interesting.

2011.11.26 Saturday - Potluck

Today's agenda: Grad Gorger's Guild of Grub-Grab (also more commonly called a potluck).

The weather is finally kicking up a notch. Gusty winds and cold temperatures. Winter is approaching.

Not much to really say, but the potluck was awesome. Tons of food, lots of friends, lots of fun. Also, happy birthday to habs.

Friday, November 25, 2011

2011.11.25 Friday

Not much planned for today. Went to Sears. Twice. Watched Habs fix up a gas powered trimmer/edger.

Went to play volleyball, then vennis with Tyler and Sneaky and friends.

Home for dinner (leftover Thanksgiving). Then HEB for some party supplies.

Played some games, then snoozed.

2011.11.24 Thursday - Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Day to everybody. May your day be filled with food, family, friends, fun, and something else that starts with f.

I went over to my parent's place pretty early. The idea was to have a brunch, then all work together in the kitchen to prepare an early dinner. We watched football just about the entire day.

The end to a long-standing tradition; the UT vs A&M game came on. The game flip-flopped a couple times between who was leading. Our defense really brought their A-game and ultimately helped us get the W. The MVP was our kicker, Tucker. He had some awesome punts from inside the endzone, and long-distance field goals. Without him, the entire game dynamics would have been much different.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

2011.11.23 Wednesday

Ah yes, sleeping in on a workday. Normally this would cause me to experience heavier traffic, but since we are dealing with a holiday coming up, the traffic was rather light.

There were not too many people at work today, which allowed me to get a lot more accomplished. Mark and I went over to the YMCA fields to work on some soccer exercises.

I spent the evening making some bacon cookies for tomorrow. Otherwise, a pretty plain day.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

2011.11.22 Tuesday

Late to rise today.

It was decided to take a small outing for lunch. Sports Authority and Popeyes. I ate too much at Popeyes, made me regret life.

Late leaving work. Really feel like getting some things done.

Did some Ab Ripper X, then ate some eggs and leftovers.

Played a few games, then worked some more... I'm crazy.

Monday, November 21, 2011

2011.11.21 Monday

Woke up early, but mostly couldn't sleep all night. Maybe I waited too long in the evening to do some workouts.

Worked a long day, then came home and worked some more. I have some things I really want to try and finish before the break.

Later on in the evening, I cooked up some fatty beef and pasta. Delicious. Also watched some MNF.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

2011.11.20 Sunday

My sister and fiance invited me over for a thanksgiving potluck. Slightly early, but I guess they are trying to time it before everybody leaves town. (Mine will be opposite and timed when people are in town.) Erik ended up cooking the turkey because my sister chickened out (har har, I so funny). They prepared a bring and soaked the meat for a good chunk of hours, then did an interesting slow cook/fluctuating temperature method to cook the meat. The sides were delicious, and I brought a big bowl of bacon chocolate chip cookies. I would consider my trial recipe a success. I will have to continue making food that is deliciously terrible for you.

Watched football a little here and there throughout the day.

For dinner, Ab Ripper X and eggs. BRING IT.

2011.11.19 Saturday

Woke up a bit on the early side. Today's goal: Bacon Cookies. That's right ladies and gentlemen, I am trying to kill the cookie monster. I kid, I kid.

Cooked up bacon, then made crumbs, then baked them onto the top of cookies. Very simple, very delicious.

Watched the UT Game versus Kansas State; we lost. Quite disappointing. It felt like our offense just couldn't get going. Our defense did amazing though.

Went to Brandon and Justin's concert at Quinn's. The bartender was nice, the show was good, but felt a little depressing that things have to come to an end..


Friday, November 18, 2011

2011.11.18 Friday - KLBJ analysis

Most definitely slept in some today.

Habs said I might as well do some other radio station sampling as well. Here's what I have on KLBJ from Nov 10 through Nov 16.

# of songs played: 1517
Average # of songs played per day: 216.71
# of unique artists: 129
# of unique songs: 499

Top 10 Artists Played:
#1 - The Rolling Stones - 55 plays
#1 - Led Zeppelin - 55 plays
#3 - Aerosmith - 54 plays
#4 - Van Halen - 45 plays
#4 - AC/DC - 45 plays
#6 - Boston - 42 plays
#7 - The Who - 41 plays
#7 - The Doors - 41 plays
#9 - Def Leppard - 39 plays
#10 - ZZ Top - 37 plays
#10 - Lynyrd Skynyrd - 37 plays





Top 10 Songs Played:
#1 - Take It Easy by Eagles - 7 plays
#1 - Rock 'n Roll Fantasy by Bad Company - 7 plays
#1 - Riders On The Storm by The Doors - 7 plays
#4 - You Shook Me All Night Long by AC/DC - 6 plays
#4 - You Give Love A Bad Name by Bon Jovi - 6 plays
#4 - Won't Get Fooled Again by The Who - 6 plays
#4 - Walk This Way (Live) by Aerosmith - 6 plays
#4 - Tush by ZZ Top - 6 plays
#4 - Tom Sawyer by Rush - 6 plays
#4 - Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd - 6 plays
... (33 tracks tied with 6 plays)





Some observations:
  • KLBJ also has issues with tagging on their system. You would think an artist that is "classic" would have their names stored correctly by now.
  • Comparing the graphs to KROX, you can see that there is less overplaying of specific songs, but they stick to specific artists instead. I guess those artists are either in the club of "classic rock", or not.
  • KLBJ plays, on average, less songs than KROX. While this could be something along the lines of more commercials on one station versus the other, I really don't think this is the case. Both stations have shows that take large chunks of time, and those songs aren't documented on their feed. Also, KROX plays music during the morning show, KLBJ doesn't. Just different.

I hope you enjoyed that. Habs and I discussed possibly automating some of this data collection. We both agree the hardest part will be grabbing the data and stuffing it into a database without making any errors. Once it is in a database, we could make charts and graph of pretty much anything, allowing people to judge their favorite radio stations in a different, mathematical light. I think it would be fun, and if designed correctly, could be flexible to pull in all kinds of radio station data. Nerds.

I went over to Kelc's for a while to check out some new flooring they had installed. The house is now very resonant. We watched the Oklahoma State game, which they ended up losing. Craziness. Back home, played games while people downstairs poker'd.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

2011.11.17 Thursday - KROX Analysis

I was able to get up and going a tad earlier this morning, which led me to getting on the road maybe 10-15 minutes earlier... and the traffic was significantly lighter. What gives.


So after work, since there was no kickball game I decided I wanted to get a little carried away with some statistics. My sample source: the past 7 days of 101x playlist history, courtesy of their website. There are chunks of time where it lists a show happening, like The Next Big Thing, or No Control; unfortunately it doesn't list any songs from those.

From November 10th through November 16th:

# of songs played: 1693
Average # of songs played per day: 241.86
# of unique artists: 154
# of unique songs: 383

Top 10 Artists Played:
#1 - The Black Keys - 68 plays
#1 - Foster The People - 68 plays
#3 - Foo Fighters - 66 plays
#4 - Red Hot Chili Peppers - 62 plays
#5 - Bush - 59 plays
#6 - Muse - 54 plays
#7 - Coldplay - 47 plays
#7 - Nirvana - 47 plays
#9 - Young The Giant - 41 plays
#10 - Weezer - 40 plays

Honorable Mention
Smashing Pumpkins - 38 plays
Cake - 37 plays
Stone Temple Pilots - 34 plays





Top 10 Songs Played:
#1 - The Sound Of Winter by Bush - 50 plays
#2 - Lonely Boy by The Black Keys - 47 plays
#3 - Helena Beat by Foster The People - 46 plays
#4 - Paradise by Coldplay - 30 plays
#4 - Dark Horses by Switchfoot - 30 plays
#6 - Whirring by The Joy Formidable - 29 plays
#6 - Cough Syrup by Young The Giant - 29 plays
#8 - Walk by Foo Fighters - 28 plays
#9 - The Cave by Mumford & Sons- 27 plays
#10 - Sail by Awolnation - 25 plays

Honorable Mention:
Young Blood by The Naked & Famous - 24 plays
Pumped Up Kicks by Foster The People - 22 plays




So what does that tell us? 101x doesn't know how to spell Phoenix, and the tagging problems that have plagued MP3s since their inception are very much applicable to radio stations. Now I'm just speculating, but it looks like they have "tiers" of songs, as shown by the ordered list. What's your take?

**I'll need to find a different host for the song list. Google wants to scale down my 300KB 665x6343 image. What gives Google?**

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

2011.11.16 Wednesday

Late getting going. The sun is rising later and setting earlier. Boooo.

We were able to scrounge up enough people to play some volleyball today. It felt like we hadn't played in weeks.

Class after work. It was exciting. (I'm so funny.) Nick showed us some pics from his ongoing home renovation project.

In other news, all remnants of my old website project have now been expunged from the internet. I hope you made a backup or took a screenshot!

Home, Ab Ripping workout and LEDs!

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

2011.11.15 Tuesday

It might actually rain today. 80% probability is pretty high up there. Even the radar shows a huge clump of red heading our way.

It only mediocre rained. Enough to not play volleyball.

LEDs arrived. Unfortunately I spent the evening working on homework and work. Frustrating to have a new toy and not be able to play with it. Our group is getting better at becoming distracted during our homework; it's entertaining.

Monday, November 14, 2011

2011.11.14 Monday

Pretty plain day for work. I actually made some leaps in progress, and was able to crank a few things out at home later.

In the evening, I decided to go for a run then do some more "Ab Ripper X". This time around I felt like the exercises were significantly easier for some reason. Maybe running beforehand helped get some blood flowing, maybe my body decided to adapt, who knows for sure. I followed that up with some stretching. Ever since I was young, I have never really been able to touch my toes. Maybe my legs are too long, or my arms too short, or my back bends differently. I do remember after an entire season of marching band (stretching every day) that I was just about able to touch my toes. I'm just weird.

Cooked up some eggs for post-workout, then chicken and rice for a filling meal. Cooked enough to have some leftovers too. Score.

2011.11.13 Sunday

Woke up a bit on the early side. Cleaned up and played games for a little while, then a quick drive over to Fowler's with Kelc to watch the Steelers-"Bangals" game. I say "Bangals" because that is how the hostesses spelled it on their dry-erase board. Good job educational system.

Kelc and I started seeing some open house signs on the way back home, so we ended up checking out a place in the Anderson Mill area. The house was a custom build, and there were some really nice things about it. For instance, the attic was highly accessible and had potential for expansion. Everything seemed really well taken care of. Some bad things: the back yard was a little tight, they used lots of wood and some looked a little old, and the counter tops in the bathrooms was an eyesore. Overall still a good looking house, and attractively priced. I'm still not sure how comfortable I am with taking on such a huge debt at this point in my life. Maybe I'll just save up and buy a house ... in cash.

Back home, played games and lounged. Kelc left to go to a movie. Sunday evenings are always a downer. In a more positive light, the Matrix was on tv, and once I start I cannot stop. It usually ruins a chunk of hours for me.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

2011.11.12 Saturday - Garage Sale

Woke up early to set up for the neighborhood-wide garage sale. Sold nothing. More like "garage fail", am I right?

UT lost. Disappointment #2 of the day.

Picked up some chik-fil-a on the way home. Not much longer after, and I was on my way over to Habibi's potential future house to take some measurements. Put that in sketchup for maximum planning ability.

Played some L4D2. Then decided to try something a little different. Since I have access to some P90X videos, I thought I'd give the "Ab Ripper X" a try. Oh boy, I am not in good enough shape to do most of these exercises. Apparently that is ok though, the goal is to stick with it and you'll start seeing yourself able to complete more and have better form. I also did some of the stretch video, then Kelc came over and put an end to my fitness party.

2011.11.11 Friday

Ah yes, a day off. What shall I do with it?

Breakfast consisted of some experimental egg cooking. I tried some frying with bacon grease. It went okay. After that I went for a haircut at what used to be Too Hotties, now it's called Cowboy Cuts or something weird. They play country music over the stereo and don't have as many TVs. Also my discount is effectively nullified. Overall still a decent experience, some scalp, face and neck massages included in the cut.

At home I washed my car. It really needed it.

Kelc and her sister invited me out to a movie, Like Crazy. That turned into 6 people with Habs and Taylor, myself and Kelc, Korey and her mom. Pretty sure Habs and myself were 2 of maybe 8 males in the theatre, with 60 females. Not bad at all. The movie was... interesting. The ending was a bit frustrating, but I could see how the writers probably planned that to reflect on how frustrating a relationship can be. There was also some patrons around us that would whisper or gasp at certain things on screen at certain times, and not others, leading me to believe they are hypocrites.

Mark came over to drop of goods for the garage sale. Then I played games and went to bed.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

2011.11.10 Thursday

Late waking up. I actually woke up when my alarm turned itself off from going too long. ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED - BACKWARDS ALARM

Off to work I go. Potential soccer was cancelled due to fluctuating schedules, but it's ok. Instead I went to a discussion about Agile and Scum for engineering teams.

After work Kelc and I went to play some bowling. Then for a late dinner-snack, some Kerbey Queso. Yum.

Home, sleep.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

2011.11.09 Wednesday

That running yesterday really made me want to just lay in bed for a long time.

In a more positive light, my high school's marching band won UIL-State (4A) yesterday. Last time that happened, I was in the band. And oh goodness... that was 10 years ago. Darnit.

Today at work was pretty bland. The class after that was also pretty bland. Our professor wants our presentations to take less time, so we are getting to speed through some of that. I find it to be somewhat difficult to pay attention to 4+ groups presenting the same information over and over.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

2011.11.08 Tuesday

Woke up early for some reason. I couldn't sleep last night, and I think it's because I meant to go running but never did.

Plain day at work. It's supposed to rain, so I don't think there will be any volleyball or sports. I'm pretty bummed about it.

After work, at home, looks like it didn't rain much at all. What a bummer. Time to go for a run. I haven't done that in quite a long time, so I don't expect to be going very far.

Worked on some homework with classmates, listened to some music, then called it a night.

2011.11.07 Monday

Regular day at work. I had some fried chicken for lunch, and my stomach was gurgling and feeling funny most of the afternoon. I suppose two days of fried food isn't all that great.

In the evening, I started up some laundry and just snacked instead of doing anything for dinner. I started playing around with GIMP for an idea I had. Should be something to sink some time into.

My school group got together online to start cranking through our upcoming assignment. Turns out there is a lot less work than I originally had thought, so that is some relief.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

2011.11.06 Sunday - Surprise Party

Daylight saving time is in effect. Even though I knew it was happening, it still freaked me out a tad when I was waking up. Cleaned myself up a bit, then waiting.

My parents picked me up to head over to Brenham, Texas. There my cousins had set up tables, food and fun in the fire hall. We arrived too early, so we had to wait a while. My aunt showed up to what she thought was an engagement party, and everybody yelled "surprise" at her. She didn't know how to react. It was pretty funny. Not too long after, we were eating some awesome food; fried chicken, corn, green beans, cole slaw, mashed potatoes, potato salad, bread. So something interesting happened at this event... I found out that my cousin is kind of seeing my friend's boss. Small world I guess.

Stopped by DQ on the way home for a cone. Talked with the parents most of the time, so the trip felt pretty quick. Home, then over to Kelc's to watch the Steelers vs Ravens game. Felt weird not prioritizing football the entire weekend.

2011.11.05 Saturday

Slept in, and woke up to some texts flying around. Today shall be Costco day. I drove south to meet up with Mark and Nadia to begin the Costco adventure.

Surprisingly, it wasn't very busy at the store. We grabbed lunch there, and had samples around every corner.

Back home, watched the tail-end of the UT vs Texas Tech game. To my surprise, we were whipping Tech pretty good.

Goofed around for a few hours, then headed over to Mark/Nadia's to watch the LSU vs Alabama game (number 1 vs number 2). They cooked up some exquisite cuisine. I thought it was delicious, and Kelc enjoyed it as well which is surprising because of the level of spice.

Back home for a bit, then over to Paul's to meet up with friends that had just finished seeing the Paul Simon concert.

2011.11.04 Friday

More fun at work.

Soccer over lunch time. We were able to scrounge together 8 people this time, so 4v4. I did get pegged in the chest with the ball by Tyler; it slightly knocked the wind out of me, but still awesome.

Post-work, Kelc and I went to the Cedar Park vs Lake Travis football game. CP was getting their rear-ends handed to them during the first half, but then came back in the second half to almost tie it up. They lost, but it was at least a fun game to watch.

Not going to lie... I feel a little lost without having JC2 stuff to do. It filled in the gaps in my evenings, and for $5 it was a fantastic purchase.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

2011.11.03 Thursday

Late to work, late to lunch, late leaving work, late getting home. Good day.

Habs and I barely made it to kickball on time, or so we thought. When we got there our team was waiting on the field to finish up a game that was running late. Oh and Habs, myself, then my sister, then Erik kicking allowed our team to score some runs. The rest of the game was just empty innings. So we won. Score!

Home, tsnooze.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

2011.11.02 Wednesday

Late to bed, late to rise. I tried out some new shaving soap with the fancy safety razor, and man what a difference that made. The blade just cruised over my skin without catching on anything.

< Soap Box >
I'm pretty pissed about the crap Kardashian wedding. Not only did I have to hear about some wedding that didn't matter to me at all, but now the media is taking another spin at it for only lasting just over 70 days. Stupid. Wasteful.
< / Soap Box >

Played some volleyball over lunch. It was fantastic, as usual.

For class today, we enjoyed some free pizza. Free because I sent in a complaint about how terrible service was last week, so the area customer service representative said the next meal is on the house. Not bad. Class, on the other hand, was difficult to put much mind effort in to.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

2011.11.01 Tuesday

Approximately 1/6th of the year left. Lots of changes ahead.

Played volleyball over lunch. Today was one of the guy's birthday, so we had a slightly different line-up, but mostly the same.

Worked a little later than usual. At home I decided to plow through Just Cause 2. I was up to 98.8% completion, then decided to use a fan generated tool to assist me in completing the last chunk of game. A little disheartening, but it is impossible to get 100% completion without doing some modifications to the game. There are a few bugs that prevent a few tasks from being accomplished. Le Sigh.