Nicole's Live Journal

Want to race?

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 19:49:49 GMT

I went skiing last weekend for the first time this decade. I expected it to be horrible. I can be intolerant to cold, old lady that I am.

Much to my surprise, it was awesome! Cold toes, that got frostbite/nip in the past, stayed warm. The secret - very large boots, loosely bound. (It didn't hurt that it was 40 degrees either.)

I remembered how to ski well enough that I zoooomed down the mountain aggressively. (I am not saying I looked good or was in control, just that I had no fear.)

this year.

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:35:27 GMT

Dear Journal,

Sorry I've been neglecting you.

In January I had final exams.
In February I vacationed in Austin, then up to New Hampshire to meet my new nephew.
In March, I took a ski vacation in VT.

Somehow, this has eaten all of this year so far. That, plus work, school, and bridge, which I manage to play 2 games a week, on average.

I partially blame my boyfriend, for being so damn attentive and fun. Plus, there's facebook...

I miss you!

Love,
Nicole

year in review

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 15:07:08 GMT

Here are the first lines of each month's post in 2008:

Jan: last week i played with PHP and MySQL for the first time.

Feb: i am voting for a Barack Obama tomorrow.

March: tomorrow i'm going to head to toys R us to pick some new two plus person games to play with my dad next week.

April: for my final project, i need to propose, then build a website that my TA will be impressed with.

May: I get email updates with local Pollen and Mold Counts from the National Allergy Bureau.

June: i'm thinking of not renewing my apartment lease, which expires 8/1/08, if i can find a happy comfortable living space to replace it.

July: i recently redesigned my personal web page to showcase what i've learned.

August: no posts

Sept: a drive axle in my car broke in half last thursday, as i was leaving for vermont for my sister's wedding.

Oct.: i worked 10.5 hours today.

Nov: i'm planning to wake up early and line up to vote before the polls open.

Dec: Here are the first lines of each month's post in 2008:

voted!

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:31:01 GMT

left the house at 6:45 AM, half in pajamas.

there was a line of about 50 people. the line more than doubled by the time the polls opened.

teenagers in school buses screamed cheers for Obama as they passed.

done voting around 7:30.

voting blue

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:48:44 GMT

i'm planning to wake up early and line up to vote before the polls open. maybe in my pajamas. i'm really looking forward to voting:

1. Obama for President
2. NO on prop 1.

(A YES VOTE would reduce the state personal income tax rate to 2.65% for the tax year beginning on January 1, 2009, and would eliminate the tax for all tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2010. A NO VOTE would make no change in state income tax laws.)

PSA.

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:55:44 GMT

Fall 2008 North American Bridge Championships are in Boston this year, 11/20-11/30.

http://www.acbl.org/nabc/index.php?a=2008&b=Fall&c=index

you need not be a champion to play. really. they have lots of "beginner" games.

nerdiness.

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:13:10 GMT

Your results:
You are Deanna Troi

Deanna Troi		80%
Beverly Crusher		60%
Jean-Luc Picard		55%
Will Riker		50%
James T. Kirk (Captain)		50%
Spock		49%
Uhura		45%
Worf		40%
Leonard McCoy (Bones)		40%
An Expendable Character (Redshirt)		40%
Geordi LaForge		35%
Chekov		35%
Data		34%
Mr. Sulu		30%
Mr. Scott		25%

You are a caring and loving individual.
You understand people's emotions and
you are able to comfort and counsel them.

Click here to take the "Which Star Trek character am I?" quiz...

some thoughts for october.

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 02:27:21 GMT

i worked 10.5 hours today.
i'm too tired to go to sleep.
i saw a rainbow yesterday.

i like my job.
i like my class.
i'm behind in being ahead on homework.

i'm going to try to post every day in november.
i love my sleeping bag.
jogging feels good.

guest blog by brian

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 03:12:32 GMT

Nicole has had a very hard day. It started way too early, as most days have been recently since her work switched her to the morning shift. The plus of being on the morning shift, is she can take a Java class, of which, today was the first lesson. Sadly to say, the best part of the class was that she actually found a parking spot in Harvard square (check back next week to see if she actual goes to lesson two of the class).

Nicole is ready for xmas as she is wearing lots of red and green. Between you and me it is unbecoming for a Jew.

more school.

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 21:59:16 GMT

tomorrow i am starting my second graduate class: intro to computer science using java.

i took intro to programming my freshman year at Penn with mixed results. let's just say, i loved the first semester (Scheme/ML), loved the people, and barely kept my head above water second semester (C++).

i'm looking forward to learning what an object is, so i can get oriented towards it.

purgatory

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 05:48:34 GMT

nice to see gweeps at the annual purgatory chasm picnic.

hanging out with old friends makes me happy. :D

seven years ago today.

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 03:09:55 GMT

do you remember where you were seven years ago today?

i first heard about the towers falling from a stranger on the subway.
i got the rest of the story standing beside a pickup truck in brookline village, listening to the radio.

i was unemployed and agitated. i was both unable to bear watching the news and unable to stop.

good carma.

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:05:47 GMT

a drive axle in my car broke in half last thursday, as i was leaving for vermont for my sister's wedding. it broke while i was still in the parking lot at work.

left for vermont two hours later in my date's car. had many adventures; celebrated at my sisters wedding.

drove from my sister's wedding in darkness when a huge, HUGE moose steps into the road about 20 feet in front of the car, looks at me, and then trots across the road.

it loomed about 10 feet above me, with massive antlers, and fur at the ankle that looked like socks.

new job, small world

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 20:01:39 GMT

i am temping in a small office, about 30 people.

i just found out yesterday that one of my coworkers is a Camelot Cohousing member.

west of 128, barely.

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:07:44 GMT

i started a new job (temp -> perm) in waltham last week.

i work near the border of Lincoln and Waltham, west of 128.

anyone work out this way? or recommend restaurants/fun things to do close by?

my homepage updated

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 21:15:54 GMT

i recently redesigned my personal web page to showcase what i've learned.

want to take a look?
want to try to break it?
want to sign the guest book?

http://www.gweep.net/~nicole

migrating from harvard to gweep.

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:58:48 GMT

i created a simple test php file that looks something like the following:

$url = "http://api.flickr.com/services/rest/?method=flickr.test.echo&api_key=XXXXXXXXXXXX";

$response = file_get_contents($url);

echo $response;

if i paste the url into my browser directly, i get an XML file in response.
if i call this file from a harvard server, i get an XML file in response.
if i call this file from gweep, i get nothing.

any idea why?

seeking new living space.

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:03:17 GMT

i'm thinking of not renewing my apartment lease, which expires 8/1/08, if i can find a happy comfortable living space to replace it.

anyone know of a home in need of a resident?

any camelot folks looking to fill their spot, perhaps?

i'm flexible on the where, with whom, and how much.

submitted.

Tue, 20 May 2008 16:27:40 GMT

i submitted my final project last night, a site of web comics by the talented mitra farmand.

http://fp.fuffernutter.com

sneezy.

Tue, 06 May 2008 15:22:59 GMT

I get email updates with local Pollen and Mold Counts from the National Allergy Bureau.

Just learned that my runny nose and sneezing in the last two days is likely from a high birch tree pollen count.

homework and procrastination.

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 18:51:29 GMT

three projects down, one to go.

i've learned a lot about AJAX, javascript, mySQL, php, xml, xhtml, and css. remember when i didn't know what these words meant? that seems like a long time ago. :D

if you want to take a peak -
uername: user
password: pass

http://project1.fuffernutter.com/
http://project2.fuffernutter.com/
http://project3.fuffernutter.com/

disclaimer: you are are not actually ordering pizza or buying stocks.

seeking design ideas.

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 19:41:10 GMT

for my final project, i need to propose, then build a website that my TA will be impressed with.

i'm not sure what to propose, because i am easily impressed.

so, if you had time to build an interesting interactive website, what would you build?

only requirements: website must utilize some combination of JavaScript, MySQL, and PHP, though not necessarily all three.

birthday dinner: cancelled.

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:59:40 GMT

I've decided not to gather folks for celebrating on my birthday this year.

Looking forward to having/creating another excuse to gather/celebrate soon. :)

atrial fibrillation

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 04:25:55 GMT

my dad didn't have to get admitted because his defib shock was due to atrial fibrillation.

when he got home from the hospital after midnight, he had a second two hour episode of atrial fibrillation. he didn't get shocked this time because they changed the defib settings.

i haven't wrapped my head around what all this means, but he seems in pretty good spirits. i'm heading down for a visit tomorrow.

thanks for all of the good wishes and hugs. :)