I am really debating the necessity my graduation at this point. I definately learned almost nothing while at UB. Maybe I just learned too much during my undergradute years, or I expected too much but I really didn't learn anything that could not have been condensed into a "small" pamphlet. I guess I learned what beaurocracy was.

I will use this form as an example. This form was due last december. I have had it online since then. Does anyone else see the irony that I got a degree in media studies, where I studied online communication and this form isn't acceptable. It needs to be handed in, hard copy. Same with my notification that I quit my job at UB. Why can't they just take my word for it. I quit, I quit, I quit - I am not returning. I have filled out over 50 of these types of forms. Before, when I was able to go to UB during business hours it was possible to be a form slave. Now I just can't leave work to take the subway to wqalk to the CFA in the middle of a business day.

It's my own fault for not realizing that it was all so unimportant earlier. Like if I had quit at credit 10 it would have been much easier to write it off. But now I owe about 40,000 for it. I am 75 credits into my 60 credit nightmare degree and the digustng part is that I had a 4.0 until this point because I was really serious about always doing lots of work and being on top of it all - that is until this part.

Frankly, I might as well just get another job and pay off the whole thing in the next couple years and then bury this whole fake art crap thing behind me. I am so not feeling the vibe of most of the other art students and I think I was just in the wrong place. I wish I had just never been pressured into going back to school.

I hate schools, I hate academics. It is all so pretentious. I think I was just allured by the summers off. I think that is what it really came down too. How lame is that.

I rememeber one time when I was in spain I looked at this giant miro sculpture and was like what is all this art crap that everyone is talking about. They should just melt it all down and make productive stuff out of it. I think that is where this all started. That day in spain. Somehow I got all wound up into it until one day recently I started to really consider what it was.

So the problem is this. To graduate in spring I need to enroll in a one credit course because the rule is that you have to be enrolled for one credit the semester you graduate. If I don't then I have to do it all over again later. This has been going on for so long. I don't want the one credit. The one credit doesn't want me and I deifnately will not learn anything.

I am waiting eternally for (e:terry) who already lost his new cell phone. In the morning he drops me off and when it's warm out walking will be no problem but it's not fun being outside after work in the freezng slush. It' sucks to not be able to contact him for a ride home after work.

I will take this time to tell you a funny story. So I thought there was something seriously wrong with the new server. It kept going on and off and the artvoice server did to. When we moved it in, we plugged the server and the router into a plug that was previously empty on the wall.

Turns out that the plug was controlled by the same power line as the basement light switch! So you can imagine what kind of craziness that made for.

So I am working on build an intelligent mobile artvoice calendar. For me this is a very exciting opportunity. This is what I am thinking.

1. Focus more on the day/moment. If people wanted to plan two weeks from now they would read artvoice or visit the site on a computer. Most people want to look up stuff they foprgot to wriet down on the way there. e.g lcoation, cost, times. First, make a plain online calendar that is easily searchable from the phone to satisfy users who want the functionality of option 1.

2. Make it so they can schedule SMS alerts and make it intelligent
Create an online interface where people can sign up and give us their cell number to recieve a text message alerts of events based on data they provide us with. With SMS message alerts they can get messages "pushed" to the phone without having to actually initate anything like looking it up. When they sign up they will fill out information such as types of music they like, bands they like, nights they tend to go, bars they prefer, and lots of social networking questions etc.

I will make a program that compares what is coming up that evening with what the robot thinks about them. The robot then can feed them entertainment options from artvoice. As the robot begins to form an opinion of what they like to do, they will be prompted with more questions and for feedback.

I think I can start by interviewing lots of people about this, and taking pictures of them to set up profiles for the robot to learn from. I can also tap into lots of online resources that help compare things someone might like. Say amazon.com.

Questions could be posed in fun ways and even answered from the phone. It could say something like.

It's thursday night - you find your self at
1. chippewa
2. elmwood
3. allen
4. university heights

Hair gel
1. Style me up
2. Yuck

I need coffee, I am off to
1. Star Bucks
2. Spot Coffee

There is a stage
1. You are on it
1. You are clapping

Today's Lunch
1. brought my own
2. drive through
3. way to expensive
4. wasn't up yet

On another note, (e:jesse) sent me this. It is his first file sent across GPRS with the cell phone he is building. He said it is a flyer for a party for my birthday.

So I spent the last three days in a sort of computer coma, trying to get the server all set up and out of the house. It is finally set up and at artvoice but for some reason their network has crashed. I hope it has nothing to do with the server. I am not going to actually move the site until after it has been sucessfully running for a week. Once it is all up and going, I am probably going to start a video blog.

I took a lot of random pictures of my life along the way but had no time to post. (e:lilho) provided me with food. One day lobster and steak the day before rack of lamb - it was so yummy. She is a hard worker.







At some point I went to my parents house to pick up my dad to go take care of some tenant business. Everyone has paid their rent now. Somehow they got us to hand up a shelf for them. I always end up doing something weird liek that. My dad says it brings respect to a landlord/tenant relationship. I think it wastes my time but I am still learning.

There are almost no tomotoes left at Nonna's [inlink]matthew,564[/inlink]. I brought a buschel to my mother the other day. The end of the tomatoes is going to be really sad. In a weird way it is almost like the end of Nonna's cooking forever ;(



Tremont, where I grew up is on the other side of elmwood, north of the city. This is across elmwood from where I grew up.



This dairy queen was also across elmwood, which meant as a kid I had to cross a big street to get there. I remember wanting to cross so bad. Eventually I just did.



I spent a lot of night hanging around here with my friend Heather Killian. She has moved back to buffalo and we never see each other.

The coop has Quorn on sale for $2.99 /per box. I bought four boxes. I really love this stuff even if some people think it is made out of humans.



They also had red pepper for the not so sale price of $5.99/pound. By the way (e:joshua), they had fuji apples - even organic ones.

So (e:lilho) had a starbucks gift certificate from the holidays that she wanted to use. I don't normally go there but I figured if it's freewhy not. You can't believe the packaging I got for this piece of cake I ordered.

I thought the carboard and rope bag was over the top but there was another cardboard box inside. Never again.

The cake looked good


The bag was a little over the top


Especially seeing as it had rope handles and a heavy cardboard box inside


At least it tasted good. I don't think I would eat there again unless it was free.