Author: nslyax

nslyaxhttp://www.nicholasyax.com/I am a Ferris State alum currently living in Holland, MI. My blog has been being neglected recently, but I hope to be posting more.
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Still More Site Updates

So after looking on search engines, I have found that I am listed on Yahoo, Altavista, and the google blog search, but not on MSN, Lycos, or main google. I did find that it can take 5-8 months to exit the google “sandbox” though, and since site in only 3 months old, and last site took about that long, I have decided everything is OK, though I would prefer to be listed. Also, I am wondering when the old site will be removed from search results, since it hasn’t existed in a month and a half.

I added a site history page, including screen shots of the old sites. I also updated the site’s front page and to-do list, and tinkered with the style sheet. I am liking it much more now, but still requires more work. Also, I changed to a different poll, and think this is the one. It is actually a WordPress plugin, so integrates very well. Easy for me to edit, and seems to work well for you too. We will see how it goes.

As far as Sarah’s comment on the weather, no, I cannot like this weather. Yes, today is better than the past few, but high winds and snow just aren’t for me. Like I said a month ago, I like Autumn, it’s just too bad it’s only a month long season. Thank you for commenting though.

Still More Changes

So yet more changes on the website. I changed the colors some, and the headers, and the sidebars are next. I moved the links on the top, and added a path listing under the header. I actually got into editing it because I finally got the template for the blog working, and it was rather hard to read due to colors. So, the new blog template is coming, just so you know.

The other day I realized I passed $0.50 in hosting fees. It took me 4 months, so thats pretty damn good. That comes out at $2.00 a year, which is $97 less than .Mac. Woohoo.

I am now obligated to complain about the weather. Lets face it, it rather sucks. First, it was windy. Then, it was windy but from the other direction. Then, it rained. then, it sleeted. Then, the wind calmed down, but then it snowed. Then, the snow accumulated. it’s crazy. The water in the river was a foot or more higher than normal yesterday, today it was at least 3ft low, probably more. You could walk from the middle grounds to the riverwalk pier all on dry (well, exposed and mucky anyway) ground. Anyway, this is our first real snow, and though it’s, so far at least, not accumulating on concrete yet, it is accumulating on about everything else, and that’s more than the only other snow this season (actually, it was debated that that first snow was actually a frost, which is possible, since I never saw it fall, only white on various surfaces).

In school, hmmm…

I had another math test. Only 1 more of those left thankfully. Not bad on this test, but certainly could have been better. Also, I might lose one of my classes for next semester. Right now, there are only 2 people signed up, out of 25 seats. I will still have 12 credits, so no worry there, but still, it is a required class, I need it at some point.

OK, thats all for now.

Ohh, I will go for another poll soon too. But you all need to comment more I think.

nick

1000 Visits

First, I have reached 1000 visits on the new blog. Actually, I’ve reached 1017, but uh, anyway, Sarah got the visit at 9:30 am Nov 10.

I watched Bewitched last night. It was pretty good, funny, and not too stupid (with Will Farrell that can happen). I watched the first 20 minutes or so with Jenn, but then she left for work.

Yesterday Jenn was supposed to work, but was called and told she didn’t need to come in, but was on call till 2 am. So, we went to Menards and Tractor Supply to look for a christmas gift for her dad, then to the mall, then to Shannon’s (who she worked with at Staples) going away party at Hooters. On the way home, we rented a movie (see above) and settled in for a night on the couch. About 20 minutes later, around 11, Covenant called and asked for her to come in. She was my ride, and I was lazy, so I decided to stay and watch the movie. I ended up staying up till 6, then waking up at 7 till she got home, then went to sleep at 8ish when she did.

And finally. I know most of the people that read the blog, thanks to my wonderful counter. Jenn, Scott, and Sarah I know are frequent visitors, but there is one more. It says the IP is registered to RoadRunner in Austin, TX, and I know my cousin Cindy has RoadRunner service, and lives in Austin Texas. And it’s a fairly frequent visitor, so not a random occurrence, let alone that I am still not on search engine for a random occurrence to occur anyway. So, the only answer is whether it’s Cindy, Rachael (sp?), or Sam. So, whoever it is, i would appreciate an email, comment, or IM letting me know, cause I am always curious.

Sorry

Yes, I admit it, I have slightly neglected the blog for the past, uhm, 9-3=6 days. I have a good reason though, I just wont tell you. I have my reasons.

I am down to 86 iblog posts to edit, including the 18 misdated ones, out of 296 total. That means 210 edited so far, with the most recent unedited post being that of May 10, 2004. That means less than a year of posts remaining.

School is going, thats all I can say for it. This week I had a drafting and manufacturing test, as well as a math quiz, and will have a math test on Monday. Fun fun.

Jenn survived the weekend of being up 26 hours, sleeping about 5, being up 19 hours, then sleeping 6. This weekend she works Friday and Monday nights.

Hmmm…

This is part of why I haven’t posted, nothing to write about…

On December 2 in Sandusky is “the Original” Country Lighted Farm Implement Parade. Looks like fun.

OK, that’s it. Will try not to go as long again, probably post Saturdayish.

nick

Clarification on the Poll

I have pretty well decided that my domain name will be hooji, but my top level domain (TLD) is still in question. My options currently would be anything but a .com, as hooji.com is in use until June 2006, but may become available after that. So, the poll has most of my possible choices, but the full list is .com, .net, .us, .info, .name, and .ws. There are others, but they don’t really fit. Actually, these don’t all fit, as .com is supposed to be for companies, .net for ISPs, and .info for sites that provide reputable and useful information. So, that leaves .us, which is a country code TLD for, well, the US, .name, for people’s names I suppose, and .ws, the country code for Western Samoa, but more often used as a short for website. So then, we come down to other factors, like price. .com costs $7.17 a year, .net, .org, and .info are $7.43, .us and .biz a mere $5.95, .name $7.22, and .ws $8.45. .us and .biz are actually $6.35, but are on sale apparently, and .com, .net, .org, and .name have an additional $.25 a year reg fee that the others do not. Beyond price, is availability, as I said, all are available but .com, which may or may not come available in June 2006. If I wait for it and it doesn’t, I will need to either wait another year, or just choose a different one. So, all this put together, it seems to me that /us would be my best bet, as its designated use is correct for me (actually, its the only one, since I am not a buziness, non-profit organization, ISP, company, live is Western Samoa, provide much useful info, or plan on using my name as the domain). Also, it is cheaper than most of the rest. But, just the same, I am asking for your opinion, since I honestly wouldn’t mind going for .net, and a .com is always the coolest choice, I’m just nervous of waiting and it turning out for nothing.

So, thats a “short” explanation of the poll.

If you want to choose other on the poll, or would rather see a different domain than hooji, voice that opinion in the comments for this post.

General Updates

We sold the Grand Prix. It was kind of sad, cause it was a good car, and has actually be running pretty well, but we didn’t use it, and had no reason to keep it. Besides, after just trying to sell a car, you become ready to burn it if needed, just to get rid of the hassle. Anyway though, it turns out we sold it to a granddaughter of a friend of my grandmother’s.

I switched to the new poll. As I think I said, i gave up on making my own, but will modify the hell out of this one. Eventually, I may switch to a different one again, but this one seems to do what I want. For now anyway.

I registered for classes for winter. My schedule shall be as follows:

Monday: CAD-226 5-8
Tuesday: EET-235 2-4, SPH-112 4-6
Wednesday: QA-244 5-8
Thursday: EET-235 2-4, MS-114 4-10

Yes, thats 2-10PM on Thursdays, I am a little afraid, but think I will survive. And for those of you who don’t have Delta’s class codes memorized, those classes will be:

CAD-226: Parametric Modeling – A 3D CAD class
EET-235: Electronic Circuits – amounts to a 15 week review to my 2 years at Skill Center
MS-114: Machine Tool – how to use mills, saws, grinders, etc…
QA-244: Statistical Process Control – Quality control and assurance, I’m really not totally clear on what all
SPH-112: Fundamentals of Oral Communication – How to talk and write to people and not look stupid (more people should take this I think)

OK, I think that’s it though.

nick

The Joy of Wikipedia

So I’m sitting and my ear starts to itch. Upon giving it a good pick, I find some ear wax. I become curious as to weather ear wax is in fact a wax and decide to do a check on wikipedia.

  1. No, ear wax is not real wax, its a mixture of sweat and very thick oils
  2. SC Johnson is listed, since they are a major wax producer
  3. SC Johnson lists Ziploc and other brands that they bought from Dow Chemical
  4. Dow Chemical was founded in Midland to take advantage of brine reserves, and originally produced chlorides and bromides
  5. After entering the polymer market, they were approached by Corning Glass for a joint venture to produce silicones
  6. Corning Glass invented fiber-optic cable as we know it
  7. Dow and Corning’s joint venture is named Dow Corning
  8. Dow Corning is the current owner of the Silly Putty patent, though it is distributed by Binney & Smith, it is named SILly putty because it is SILIcone based, it is also available as “Dow Corning 3179 Dilatant Compound”
  9. Dow Corning creates a way to produce polycrystaline silicon, spins process off in seperate devision, Hemlock Semiconductor
  10. Portion of Hemlock Semiconductor bought by Mitsubishi Materials Corp.

All that from an ear itch?
Fun fun.

Happy Birthday Scott!

Jenn and I were driving down Wilder and I said “Ohh, we could go see Scott”, so we did. We talked for a bit about laser guided temperature probes, but then his pizza arrived so we left. Just an hour ago though, when I came home, I was greeted by iCal notifying me It’s Scott’s Birthday! I can’t believe I forgot. If you asked me what day his birthday was, I would tell you it’s today, but I just didn’t remember. So, sorry Scott. Happy Birthday.

After 72 hits from the Ask Jeeves robot in 2 days, I decided to turn off counting for robots. So, my counter will slow way down now, but its for the best. I thought it was going up pretty quick, I am at 914 after less than 3 months, but old blog took over 9 months to get that far.

I am, for the time being anyway, giving up on writing a poll. I finally did find one that works fairly well, and think I am going to stick with it. I managed to get as far as taking a vote from a form, writing it to a file, and telling you what your vote was. Reading from the file was next, but graphing is what daunted me, as well as writing in a format that was easily read from. Searching strings for specific text has always been one of my weaker points in programing.

Today we had Famous Dave’s Barbecue. Not bad at all, though a bit pricey. Jenn Chris and I went, and I think I would like to return sometime.

That would seem to be about it. No, the newer poll isn’t turned on yet, but soon. And remember to change clocks tonight.

nick

Why does a chicken coupe have two doors?
Because if it had four doors, it would be a chicken sedan!

Sometimes You Just Have to Do It Yourself

So, after several days (both now and over the last few weeks) of looking for a poll script to use, and fidgeting to get them working, I decided screw it. I can probably write my own script in far less time, get it working, and make it do whatever I want (eventually anyway). So, I tried making my own. No, it doesn’t record your vote, or show you a graph, yet. I will keep with it though, because it already at least works, which is better than 8 of the 10 I have tried so far.

I did much better on my test than I had thought. I managed an 87% on it, which I think is amazing considering on Wednesday after the test I would have said I got an 80 tops.

That, however, is all I have for now. So, I will see you all whenever I have something else. See you all later.

nick