It's been swell folks, but I'll be posting on jtbates from now on. I've added everyone I could think of to my friends list on my new account but if I forgot anyone just post a comment and I'll add you. You can click here to add me. See you around.

Date:	2004-09-01 16:34
Subject:
Security:	Public
Mood:	happy

I finally uploaded some pictures from my camera. ( Here's a picture of PNC Park I took during Clippership. )

I've decided I'm going to move my LJ account to jtbates. Mahirishi Mahesh is a badass but it just really isn't amusing anymore as my username. I'll try to move over my friends list tomorrow.

Hurrah! My laptop finally arrived. I felt so wierd without a computer. It's sad really. Anyways I'm really happy. The wireless is awesome, it's a dream to go from dialup to this. Well, enough about that.

My first day of classes was today! It was an interesting day. First I had Matter and Interactions, that was cool. Then I had Interpretation and Argument. Not cool. The theme of the class is art history. <-Fuck that! I ditched that class ASAP. I went to my Analysis class, chill, and then straight to my department's dean of undergraduate affairs to change to a different Interp & Argument section. I got it switched to section R which is about bias in the media, something that actually interests me. After that I went to CSW and then Biology. Biology was a huge class. I don't know how I'll like that. Oh well. After Biology I went back to see Grotzinger to switch CSW so I could have a lunch and I ended up moving it to next quarter. I can't imagine just walking in and having such and easy time changing my schedule anywhere else. It would've been harder in high school. Grotzinger is awesome, he truly seems to care about the students. I have physics and math recitations tomorrow. I'm really excited about school. I'm getting kinda tired now, so I think I'll hit the sack so I can get up early for classes tomorrow.

I'm leaving. I can't believe it, it felt like this day would never come and here it is. I can't describe how I feel. I'm excited and scared and happy and sad. It's disconcerting to leave something so familiar and heartwrenching to leave someone I love so very much, but I think I will love it at Carnegie, I've been waiting my whole life for this.

Date:	2004-08-04 16:31
Subject:
Security:	Public
Mood:	contemplative

I had a great time at Vince's last night. Surprisingly I'm really not that tired. I'm definitely going to miss staying up all night and hanging out with the guys. Tyrone's appearance was most hilarious.

I'm leaving for Pittsburgh tomorrow. I should be back in less than a week, I'm going to see an orthodontist. I hate to leave everyone when I have so little time left to spend with them, but I don't have much choice. I'm sure I'll have fun though, Pittsburgh is awesome. I'm very glad Elizabeth is going with me, it should give us some quality time together. I hope to go to the Andy Warhol museum or visit some other cool places in Pittsburgh.

Date:	2004-07-24 18:35
Subject:	Screw Indiana, I'm voting in Pennsylvania
Security:	Public
Mood:	determined

Okay, I've thought about this for a little bit. I was on the Rock the Vote website and found out college students can pick whether they want to vote in their home state or the state they're attending college in. ( Read more... ) I've decided I'm going to vote in Pennsylvania because Indiana is a lost cause to the GOP and PA is a swing state. Plus, I just read this:

Of the states won by Gore, Pennsylvania is by far Bush's top target. The president has spent millions of dollars in the state on commercials and has visited it more than any other contested state - 30 trips since his inauguration. For Kerry, losing Pennsylvania would create a virtually insurmountable electoral vote gap.

I encourage anyone else going to college out of state to see where your vote will count most. You can change your residency or register to vote if you haven't already at Rock the Vote. Spread the word.

In the spirit of LJ memes, I will post a link to a quiz. Except this is much better than those superficial ones you're used to, it is a political party matchmaker. Whether you believe in a two-party system or not (myself, I've yet to make up my mind on the issue, I've seen compelling arguments both ways), take this test to see which party you most agree with. Don't let the GOP and Dems dictate your political ideaology!

Here's my results:

1) Libertarian Party 67%
2) Green Party 60%
3) Democratic Party 47%
4) Natural Law Party 40%
5) Reform Party 40%
6) Constitution Party 40%
7) Republican Party 33%

What do you really think of me?

Date:	2004-07-18 11:51
Subject:
Security:	Public
Mood:	bored

Went camping last night. It was pretty fun for a spur of the moment kind of thing, but it definitely could've benefited from a little better preparation. We could have a blast if we planned a good camping trip. But now everyone else is tired and sleeping and I'm here bored and alone. Please, anyone, call me if you want to do something.

Date:	2004-07-17 13:53
Subject:	CMU Schedule
Security:	Public
Mood:	nauseated

( Here's my class schedule for Carnegie. )

I just downloaded lode's songs he posted on his CMU webspace. They're really good, I especially like New Friend. I must say, Dave, you rock.

Date:	2004-07-17 01:31
Subject:
Security:	Public
Mood:	irate

I hate this. I'm so angry right now. Why do perfectly good days have to be ruined like this?

Date:	2004-07-16 13:37
Subject:	Sweet hammer of Thor!
Security:	Public
Mood:	ecstatic

How in the hell?

I just got my AP scores. I have no idea how this happened but I got a five on the macroeconomics AP test. Unbelievable. I studied for that thing probably less than a couple hours cumulatively. That blows my mind. And... I got a four on the Physics test, I was expecting no more than a two. Today is a very good day.

Anyways, the other scores are as follows: 5 for Calculus BC and a 5 Calculus AB subscore, 5 Micro and Macro Economics, 4 English, and 4 Physics.

Date:	2004-07-12 14:21
Subject:
Security:	Public
Mood:	cheerful

( I just read the greatest thing ever. No really, I mean it. )

In other news, I took up Mizel's challenge to think of the least used word in the English language at this site. So far I'm winning with the 84,984th least used word, just barely edging out Mizel at 84,969. And the magic word is... ruminations.

Date:	2004-07-12 12:43
Subject:
Security:	Public
Mood:	happy

I found the most awesome t-shirt ever on eBay. It is completely red and has a picture of Tito with his signature below it. I bought it for Mizel. I think he should also get the shirt that says "Пољуби ме, ја сам Србин." but that's just because I'm jealous that I can't wear it myself. I found some other stuff that was pretty cool. There was a poster from the Spanish Civil War that said "Better to die on one's feet than live on one's knees." in Catalan, and a Yugoslavian movie poster for History of the World. Man, I hope I don't get addicted to eBay.

Time for an update I suppose. In case you didn't know, I finally got insurance and I'm driving my car. It's very nice to be able to drive anywhere I want to. It kind of sucks that it's happening two years after it should have, but what can one expect with parents such as mine. This car is the epitomy of hoopty-ness: the handle to roll the window up and down just fell off, the wipers don't work, and there's no rear view mirror. In a month and a half I'll be without a car again and none of this will matter, so the hoopty-ness of my car isn't all that bad, I'm just glad to be able to go where I want to go without asking anyone to take me.

Date:	2004-07-04 12:39
Subject:	GMAIL!
Security:	Public
Mood:	ecstatic

Yay, I have a Gmail account! I found the right email address to send the info to and got my account. And jtbates wasn't already taken! How great is that? I'm kind of befuddled as to how mdjukic and m.djukic were already taken but jtbates wasn't. Anyhow, Greg is the first in line to recieve an invite from me, but anyone else who wants one just leave a comment on my LJ. I would also be interested in trading a Gmail invite for an Orkut invite if anyone has one.

Went to see The Terminal last night, excellent excellent movie, I recommend everyone go see it.

Anyways, here's the real story. Okay, so I was determined to get a Gmail account from the Gmail Randomizer, right? I wrote a Java program to download the website to my computer over and over and started it before going to the movie and left it running all night. When I wake up in the morning I have over seventeen thousand copies of the website on my hard drive taking up nearly half a gig (425,250,816 bytes)! I was gonna write another program to search through all the files to see if there were any winners, but I decided it would just be easier to go into the folder and arrange the files by size, and voila!, one winner, on the eleven thousand seven hundred and second try, I matched all the letters to spell GMAIL! Huzzah! I have a Gmail account, the triumph of geekdom! All I have to do is e-mail this winning information and I recieve the coveted Gmail account! W00t! ......but wait a minute..... it doesn't say where to e-mail my winning information to?! WhAT?!?!?! NO!!!!!!!

On the bright side, who ever knew these LJ quizes could be so stunningly accurate?

What Is Your Best Sexual Skill?
Name:
Age:
Sex:	MaleFemale
Sexuality:	StraightGayBisexual
Flirting Skill Level - 5%
Kissing Skill Level - 83%
Cudding Skill Level - 56%
Sex Skill Level - 100%
Why They Love You	You are too good to be true.
Why They Hate You	You're too good to be true.
This Quiz by lady_wintermoon - Taken 152649 Times. </a>

New! Get Free Daily Horoscopes from Kwiz.Biz

Date:	2004-06-16 01:02
Subject:	More than you ever wanted to know
Security:	Public
Mood:	optimistic

Funny how it is that I can never find time to post when I'm at home, but here I am typing away in PA. Wow, I haven't updated in a while. So much to talk about. ( Warning: long, rambling entry. If you read the entirety of this journal entry, I commend you. Leave a comment. ) Well, I probably need to go to bed, it's 3AM. Hopefully I'll see everyone this weekend! Peace out.

Date:	2004-05-25 11:11
Subject:
Security:	Public
Mood:	melancholy

As Mizel said, Operation Firestone was a colossal failure. I'm not going to waste time re-telling the story here, I'm sure everyone will have heard it by the time the picnic is over with. I'm really disappointed that I won't be able to attend it, but I know that others cared about it even more than I did. I feel so bad that everyone has to miss it and baccalaureate too, and to come into school Thursday to take a final. I'm sorry guys, I can't tell you how guilty I feel. I never meant to sour your final days of high school. I guess I never anticipated the administrators react so harshly to something so harmless, but I'm not making any excuses; this was largely my idea and I take full responsibility. I apologize to everyone, this isn't fair to you all. I'm incensed McGuinness, Amerson, and Sellers for the way they handled this, I really don't think they did it level-headedly. But there's not anything I can do about it now; life lived lessons learned. Despite all this crap, it was actually quite an adventure, and I enjoyed spending the time with all of you. I guess that's all I have to say about it for now. I haven't really posted on LJ for almost two years, but seeing as we're graduating, I'm thinking I'll start up again. LJ seems like a pretty good way for everyone to keep up to date on each others lives. I definitely don't want to lose contact with you guys just because we're graduating. Peace, I'll talk to everyone later.