For anyone who thinks I’m about to talk about what Halloween really stands for and why we really shouldn’t celebrate it, I’m not. I’ll have to save that for another year. What I’m talking about today is a really creative jack-o-lantern a WordPress fan created. Check it out here:
I’m afraid I’ve discovered that my current hobbies are apparently not only useless, but detrimental to my health (did you know you can get bad eyesight from programming in front of an LCD screen for hours at a time?!). Depressed by the thought that years of my life have been wasted trying to hone my coding instincts, I’ve decided to launch myself into a new discipline in the hopes that it will help me to more quickly forget the life I’m leaving behind. My new hobby?
Perhaps if I display a humble affect I can talk the school into making this a major. Couldn’t be much harder than Civil Engineering right?
Fall break turned into Christmas with the arrival of my new toy: an 8×6 graphics drawing tablet. It’s not got a display of its own, but it hooks up to my computer by USB where I can use it on the GIMP. I’ve already done some stuff with it, but I’m hoping to get better. As I use this thing more (if I get the time after classes start again), I’ll try to post some more of the stuff I do. And by all means, if you’ve got suggestions about how to improve (or even if you just want to tell me how bad these things are) please feel free to comment 
I came across the site of an amazing artist today. I’d seen some of his work before (online, not in person), but it never had any information about the author. He’s got some great pieces of work. Here are a couple of my favorites.
He’s also done art in other media, but I personally think his chalk paintings are the best.
Fall Break officially begins at 5:10 today, and most students are off to visit friends and family. I of course don’t have to travel to see my family, so I instead will get a chance to catch up on the sleep I’ve lost over the past 6 weeks. Other things I plan to do over the break include work for IRPA, more development of my web hosting software, getting ahead in class reading/homework, and perhaps a little artwork.
Other bits of excitement… my parents are getting me a graphics tablet from WOOT for my birthday, and I’m waiting on a 1 TB external hard drive which should arive in the next couple days. I also just purchased a set of Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph Technical Pens which I can’t wait to try out. It should be an exciting 4 days
This past weekend Rose’s Ultimate Frisbee Team hosted an Ultimate Frisbee tournament. 10 teams participated in heated games that lasted two days. In the end, Rose’s ‘A’ team beat Southern Illinois for the tournament title with a score of 12-10. I really enjoyed watching the tournament. Unfortunately, I enjoyed it so much that I forgot to take any pictures. Oh well, maybe I’ll get a chance in the spring.
Rose-Hulman is a school full of tradition. Last weekend we celebrated one of our greatest Homecoming traditions… the bonfire.
Freshman spend the week before homecoming constructing the bonfire out of about 5,000 railroad ties. It reaches 20-30 feet into the air and is crowned by an outhouse donated by someone in Terre Haute. Adding to the excitement, the sophamores attempt throughout the week to tear down the bonfire. 8:00 pm until 8:00 am is “open season”, but they have to get past the freshman who are guarding the bonfire with their lives (well, at least with nerf guns and maple syrup).
