Sweet Freedom!

Yes ladies and gentlemen, I am finished my exams. I am really happy that everything is done now and out of the way, and am looking forward to starting again with a clean slate. I'l be honest, first semester sucked for me, and my grades weren't all that hot. But I have learned from my mistakes, have put some new habits in place, and am equipping myself to deal with next year's challenges. Oh, and I'm doing summer school as well, but that isn't a huge issue.

But I am approaching this summer with some enthusiasm. This will be the firsst summer in a few years that I will actually be home for; not off at camp, in Quebec, or Alberta. Nope, I'm going to be home, taking summer courses, and (hopefully) working - *gasp! shock! horror!*

As for any plans this summer... well, none yet. I'm still not used to finishing in April and I am always slow to make plans. I will just have to go as things progress I guess... ;D which is a bit of a cop-out for me!

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Cool things I have discovered recently, media edition.

Xbox Media Center:
So this isn't actually new - I've been playing with it for a little while now - but I think I have a fair enough grasp on it to actually put something in writing. XBMC is a neat application that basically becomes your one-stop shop for all the media on your computer/xbox. It works similar to the way Windows Media Player and iTunes handles music, video, and photo libraries. There are a few noticable differences between these apps: 1) XBMC is an open source, extandable program, and 2) it looks a whole lot nicer, especially when you throw the Aeon or MediaStream skin over top.

Fun, good looking, and usful, XBMC has become my default media player - except when I'm online. Then I turn to GrooveShark.

I recently became very frustrated with previous favourite Deezer for the growing number of tracks in their library which are not playable. So while doing some adventuring online yesterday I sumbled across GrooveShark and swiftly fell in love with it. It is a really nice web-app with a clean interface and and huge selection of music to listen to in full for free. Plus, they also have a system where artists featured on the site actually get paid. My favourite part in the nice collection of obscure (at least in North America) artists they have in their library. I also enjoy their widgets, one of which has found its way into the sidebar. Harry Connick Jr. anybody?

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Well, it is rather late now, and I really should be getting to bed. I have been finding that I am staying up later now, which actually gives me less of a reason not to update this thing on a regular basis. Anywho, my pillows beckon. Good night!

Parlez-vous le Francais?

Well, today was an adventure: I wrote my French exam. I realize that may not seem like much of an adventure - though I suppose that it might be for someone who doesn't speak French - however I classify it as an adventure not so much because of what it was but more so because of what was on it. Or, to be more specific, the confusion I and many in my class felt at not having a clue as to what we needed to study for. For sure, I had some idea, after all I was at every lecture this year in French (with the exception of the lecture the day after I had my health incident), however parts of the exam remained one big question mark. So it was with some apprehension that I went into the exam. And it turned out to be pretty ok, for the first part anyway. The second part, well, lets just say that my essay for the long answer question was epic in the amount of BS I got in there.

But that is in the past now and nothing can be done about it. It is all in the hands of the markers now. Deep breaths... and launch into studying for my last two exams.

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Some more interesting things found on the interwebs:

New webcomic! I got bored of studying and then OS fanboys on LifeHacker and after a long series of jumping between various web pages by following links I ended up on the webcomic xkcd and then due to its insane funniness and geekiness spent WAY too much time there.

What xkcd Means
Online Communities
Listen to Yourself
Regarding Mussolini

For those not in the know, Godwin's Law aka Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies deals with reductio ad Hitlerum arguments, basically saying that the longer an online discussion gets the probability of a comparison involving Hitler pr Nazis approaches 1. I can personally testify to the truth of that...

Anonymous Exposed

Came across this. Brought back good memories of grade 12 and learning about Scientology and the Anonymous protests... oh Tom Cruise; you and your silly, harmful beliefs make such good fodder on the interwebs when you take yourself so seriously. Its too bad the the Anonymous counter site anonymousexposed.org isn't up anymore because it was a great rickroll... but I digress. For a frame of reference, wiki Project Chanology.

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Operation JobFind is on for tomorrow, right after I drop by and say hi to my placement class. And now, I think my pillow is beckoning.

Two Posts in One Day?! *Gasp!

I was perusing the interwebs today in between studying for my French exam tomorrow and in the process of reading one of my webcomics came across Tweenbots: a neat little social experiment involving cute little robots.

And now that we have finished with this distraction, its time to get back to studying!