my stuff

Back in B-town .. actually, I've been back for a l...

jacob — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 19:28:00 +0000

Back in B-town .. actually, I've been back for a little while. Had a great time in the UK despite the constant drizzle and thousands of autograph seekers who heard I would be in the area, and wouldn't let me have a moment to myself.

Some pictures can be found by clicking the blue words in this sentence. They're in reverse order so the beginning is really the end. Wow, that was nuanced.

Leaving

jacob — Thu, 18 May 2006 20:41:34 +0000

Leaving for sunny* Edinburgh tomorrow evening; will get there sometime Saturday afternoon (local time). Should be a fun trip.

*actually sunniness not expressed or implied.

I have decided that I have to stay in a haunted ho...

jacob — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 15:53:43 +0000

I have decided that I have to stay in a haunted hotel while in Edinburgh. Anyone know the names of any good ones?

the more haunted, the better.

Pork hock soup

jacob — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 04:31:00 +0000

Ben decided about a week ago that he must make pork hock soup. After driving all over town last weekend, trying to find a place that sold pork hocks, we found a butcher shop that we thought would sell them. Since it was closed, Ben came back early the next morning and bought four pork hocks.

Here they are cooking in a pot. Gotta cook them for 20 minutes before adding any vegetables.

Ben lectured through most of the meal preparation about how good it was going to be. Here he's lecturing about how he's going "all out" by making rice to go with the soup.

However, the preparation wasn't without its hangups. Ben can't remember whether he has to chop the cabbage or not. He consults the laptop for answers.

Of course, this uncertainty didn't stop the lectures from growing more and more animated. "YOU'RE GOING TO COME CRYING TO ME - YES - 'CAUSE ALL OF YOUR FEARS, ALL OF YOUR NIGHTMARES HAVE COME TRUE - I HAVE MADE THE BEST DINNER OF YOUR LIFE."

Finally, here's the soup. Probably not the best meal of my life, but not bad at all. The okra makes it.

Sandwich tip : putting Sriracha hot sauce (in libe...

jacob — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 17:57:10 +0000

Sandwich tip : putting Sriracha hot sauce (in liberal amounts) on your sandwich makes it a LOT better. So far I've only tried it with turkey and mayo, but Ben says it's good with mustard too. I also don't see why it shouldn't be good with other kinds of meat, as well.

Try it now, thank me later.

exciting discovery

jacob — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 20:37:46 +0000

The interior doors to the halls in Eigenmann, where my office is, are equipped with RFID cardreaders for unlocking the doors after hours. I recently found out that the stairwell doors are as well. The card reader module is off to the side, so I never noticed it before. And all this time I thought I was out of luck if those doors were locked.... I even walked down to the first floor one time because I thought I was locked out.

the more you know...

birthday

jacob — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 19:53:00 +0000

Yesterday was my birthday, celebrating 23 years of excellence. There was dancing in the streets.

Going to Edinburgh

jacob — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 21:01:00 +0000

Oh yeah, Markus and I got a paper in to WWW06, so it looks like I'll get to go to Edinburgh in May. I'll post pictures.

Get away from me, you perfect monster!

jacob — Sun, 05 Feb 2006 21:17:00 +0000

I have never watched Battlestar Galactica so I'm not sure I'd get along with her anyway.

Get away from me!

Frog sighting

jacob — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 22:07:13 +0000

Frog sighting,
originally uploaded by atomic_fish.

Recently I was able to photographically capture Frog at his desk. He looks taller in real life.

back

jacob — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 15:43:00 +0000

So yeah, I got back from CA last Sunday, just haven't posted since then. Had a great time and saw a lot of cool places. I've started posting the pictures on Flickr, but the monthly limit stopped me from uploading all of them. I'll get the rest next month.

Favorite city: San Francisco
Favorite drive: Through the rockies in CO

driving

jacob — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 16:24:00 +0000

I'll spend most of this week driving to California with Mira. We'll be stopping in Kansas City, Denver, and Salt Lake City, and ending up in San Francisco for the weekend. I should have a few pictures when I get back, so stay tuned.

Happy New Year!

jacob — Sun, 01 Jan 2006 22:09:00 +0000

It's been an eventful year. Mira's decided she'll take a leave of absence and head to Google out in the "real world." I'll miss her, but I'm sure she'll have a great time out there.

I passed my written qualifying exams (finally), so now I can do my oral examinations (hopefully next semester).

I am working on projects that actually stand a fighting chance of getting published, and I have actually submitted one paper already - we'll see if it gets accepted.

I also feel like I stand a fighting chance of getting an internship in Summer 2006.

To anyone reading this - happy new year!

view from my office

jacob — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 18:00:05 +0000

Office view 009,
originally uploaded by atomic_fish.

This is the view from my office window in Eigenmann on a clear night.

I have it on my wallpaper because I don't actually have the window seat. Now if I had a 30" cinema flatscreen I could look out the window whenever I wanted.

why

jacob — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 06:23:00 +0000

Why does everything take 5 times longer than I think it will? I feel like I have gotten nothing done this semester.

On the bright side, if I work all through break, maybe I can catch up.

UpdatesTesting my Mac client for blogspot. We'll s...

jacob — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 16:33:48 +0000

UpdatesTesting my Mac client for blogspot. We'll see if this post shows up.

Nothing has been going on lately other than the standard school stuff.

From the front page of Yahoo: 50 Cent disagrees w...

jacob — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 19:21:00 +0000

From the front page of Yahoo:

50 Cent disagrees with Kanye West on Bush

Why is it acceptable to turn to entertainers for one's political opinions?

Though I suppose that's all the news is anyway.

jill behrman

jacob — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 04:05:00 +0000

I should also mention the other thing I did last weekend - the Jill Behrman Run for the Endzone. My time this year was 27:36, significantly slower than last year (23:39). Oh well - I'm really glad to be running at all. I've also resolved to train for next summer. Let's hold that holds up.

Fall Hike

jacob — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 04:03:26 +0000

Fall Hike 018,
originally uploaded by atomic_fish.

Went hiking in Brown County State Park last weekend. Had a great time with a bunch of fun people - including most of the database lab. That's a recipe for danger.

Here's a salamander George found in a creek bed.

ow

jacob — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 15:55:00 +0000

This morning I ran in the 5K Run for Youth at bloomington. The Shotokan club paid for my registration (thanks guys!). I expected it to be an intensely painful experience and I was right. Every muscle in my legs hurts right now, and I felt ready to cough up a lung when I stopped running.

We got a little lost partway through and followed the walking path instead of the running path, so ended up running a total of about 5.5k in about 30 minutes. I guess if I estimate that extra half-kilometer cost me 2.5 minutes, I ran 5k in 27:30. Not nearly as good as last year's time, but I'm glad to be running at all.

I'll see how Jill Behrman goes on Saturday. My cold should be cleared up by then.

Run for the end zone!

jacob — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 20:01:00 +0000

If you are in bloomington and want to run in the Jill Behrman Run for the End Zone, let me know! I am trying to get a CS / Informatics team together.

r00tc0de retiring

jacob — Mon, 05 Sep 2005 21:58:00 +0000

I am retiring my old AIM name (r00tc0de) and using "jacob ratkiewicz" instead because it doesn't make me sound 14 (which is about how old I was when I made it).

please add the new and throw away the old if you want to ..

Qualified.

jacob — Sat, 03 Sep 2005 01:32:00 +0000

Passed qualifiers. About time, it should have happened a year ago.

At least I'm done.

Moving

jacob — Mon, 22 Aug 2005 15:49:00 +0000

Wow, after 2 days of steady work I'm pretty much moved, and mostly unpacked. I still have to set up my computers and go through my desk stuff (papers, cd's, etc), but mostly everything else is done.

Thanks to Alex and Scot for helping me with the furniture.

It's nice to be able to walk to school now. And I like the new kitchen a lot better.

Group shot - cropped

jacob — Sun, 07 Aug 2005 18:33:33 +0000

Group shot - cropped,
originally uploaded by atomic_fish.

Farewell party for Bassem at Cataract Falls yesterday. Check out the pics.