anti-stereotype.info

one more week. one more week until i graduate. instead of studying for my final coming up tomorrow or working on my senior design project, i decided to take a few hours to be domestic. i have a load of laundry going, have a loaf of banana bread baking in the oven, and i just finished up all the dishes.

now i’m slouched over on the couch being snuggled by kitties on both sides and watching grandma got run over by a reindeer. haha.

i’ve been feeling super stressed about the end of graduation. i have a finals to worry about and my senior design project i need to pretty up and do documentation for.  i need to study for the GRE, which is coming up on the 28th. i need to find a place to move into by december 29. i need to find a job. ugh.

well, better get my stuff together and pull the bread out of the oven.

cant tell if it’s the allergies, stress, or lack of sleep but i’ve been feeling generally unwell. i wake up every morning exhausted, with super dry eyes and stuffy sinuses. feh.

my first midterm was yesterday. it was nothing short of horrifying. i feel that if i had an extra 45 minutes or so, i might have stood a chance of passing. :\ afterwards i went to my senior design class and waited for an hour so i could speak to my professor for 5 minutes. and to top it all off, my senior design partner flew off to mexico for a vacation.

to make myself feel better i played a little batman: arkham asylum which i have to admit is pretty freaking cool. i’m not really a fan of the detective mode business. i feel like when i am not in detective mode i’m missing out on all kinds of secret stuff, and at the same time when i am in detective mode i feel like i’m missing out on some visuals i should be enjoying from the game. *shrug* i didn’t actually play batman for very long. in fact, i spent most of my night (until the wee hours of the morning) binging on peanut butter filled pretzels and watching 30 rock. i’m closing in on the end of the 3rd season, finally, and i have to admit i really really love tina fey.

today, work until 5. class until 9. home and sleep.

since purchasing persona 4 back in december, it has not been taken out of my ps2. in fact, i decided on getting a ps2 when persona 3: fes came out, and that was the only game that stayed in there until persona 4 came out…even though i had purchased TWELVE other ps2 games that i had been meaning to play.

but back to persona 4. when i moved, before all of my other stuff moved with me, i played quite a bit of persona 4. once the moving/baby happened and shortly thereafter, the beginning of spring semester, my game playing time dwindled down to almost nothing. but in the last few weeks, i’ve been picking up an hour here and there. last night i played for a couple hours and thoroughly enjoyed myself (and was slightly mortified by kanji tatsumi’s dungeon in the tv). tonight, when i turned on the ps2, the persona 4 disc wouldn’t read. i thought perhaps the laser FINALLY died.

the ps2 actually didn’t read any discs when i got it (from some douche on craigslist i traded my gba + games for) but it turns out i just had to adjust the power going to the laser. so, in anticipation of it actually dying i went ahead and bought another laser….which i haven’t had to use yet. ok…so no big deal. but before i decided to take everything apart, i put in another game to test. works fine…another game…works fine…FOUR GAMES LATER, i realize there is nothing wrong with the ps2 but the persona 4 disc itself. FUCKING BUMMER.

so tomorrow, i will go out and get another copy. but god damn it…this sucks.

on sunday i went to the denver public library to do some research on autonomous robots. i rolled up around 11 or so and then discovered it didn’t actually open until 1 p.m. boo. so then i listened to the seventh (and last) harry potter audiobook and waited for a bit.

once the library opened i rushed to the online catalog and began perusing the robot building/programming shelves and plucked six or seven (large) books and waddled back to a desk by the window. it was a gorgeous day out and i wanted to pretend i could enjoy it like everyone else on the other side of the glass. once i had settled in with my laptop out to take notes and started flipping through the books, a voice came over the intercom system in the library letting all the dpl patrons know the denver gay men’s chorus would be doing their annual singing-dealie. i thought, how fun! little did i know they would be singing in the space RIGHT BELOW where i sat. and since i had so much crap everywhere already, i didn’t really want to move. and i didn’t think the concert would be long anyway…it was about an hour, but it was really hard to concentrate during that hour. :\

today i went to the jefferson county library out in lakewood. i used to live over in the area, which is how i found it, and it is one of my favorites. i figured since i would be in golden a little earlier in the day i could stop off at the library to finish up one of my electronics projects and be on my merry way. i found a nice little cube in the back (which, btw, was really big and wide with it’s own set of electrical outlets) and i settled in. once again, little did i know that on the other side of my cube (and sharing one of three walls) was a woman using a typewriter. yeah, a god damn fucking typewriter. so as i tried to run the calculations for my current source project, all i could hear was…clack, clack, click, clak, whhzzzzzzt, ding! i was at the library for a couple of hours and the typewriter did not stop the entire time. i wonder if the woman was working out chapter 5-12 of her god damn memoir. >:\ so irritating. finally, after debating with myself for twenty minutes i decided to give up and as i was packing the woman got all of her things and walked away. *facepalm*grumble*grumble*

what the eff, eh? so my goal is to finish reading stranger in a strange land tonight, and i’m getting close…if not tonight then definitely by tomorrow. i also finished the last harry potter book today *sob* so i figured i should pick up another book. even though i have a dozen or so that i’ve been ‘meaning to read’ but since i was at the library already, what they hell.

for the better part of this decade, people keep asking me if i have read houes of leaves and when i tell them no, they sound shocked and amazed and tell me to go read it at once. i’ve resisted up to this point, but i checked to see if they had it, because most times when i check the library its always checked out, and to my surprise…there it was. i went to go check the damn book out and i am no longer in the jeffco system. i lied to the 90 year old librarian and gave him a fake address and he let me check out the book. i’ll definitely return it…but it was a bit of a pain to get it. oops. i totally felt my face flush too as i told him i lived nearby but i couldn’t remember my zip code. HAH!

the book seems really long, so i may end up buying a copy to finish at my leisure. as for audiobooks, i think i may start on american gods by neil gaiman next. i also want to see what all the fuss around twilight series is all about, but i’ll get around to that later. i have to admit, i did start watching the movie and would have probably watched the entire thing if it hadn’t been for the fact that i had to leave.

and now, back to reading!

“A SECRET list of websites deemed illegal by the communications watchdog has been leaked to the public, and includes one of the most popular sites in the country.”

full story

whaaaaat? looks like an aussie watchdog group is all about filtering out ‘illegal’ websites, which seems only natural….except some of these websites are just pervy porno sites or online gambling.

since those aren’t technically ‘illegal’ they shouldn’t be filtered out, but since they have no idea they were on a super secret not so much happy fun time list, they cant really contest it…and linking to said pervy porno pages or gambling sites could cost you up to 11 god damn fucking THOUSAND DOLLARS PER DAY.

even wikipedia got a threatening letter to remove a link from one of their pages.

of course, some mister x out there leaked a super secret list to the magical interwebs which you can download here.

Thursday, January 24, 2008 

Dear EA: Suck My Cock

a while ago i posted a blog somewhere else breaking down my experiences with EA customer service and rock band equipment…i just talked to them again and it just makes me hate them even more. so much that i no longer want rock band and every time i look at it, i just get infuriated. today i called again to get a box to return my shit and of course, that’s just not going to happen. here is my story/rant about ea in a timeline fashion.

11/20/07 – rock band is released. as excited as i was for this game i totally pre-ordered.

11/22/07 – after rocking out for a couple of days i realize that my drum set is getting a bit mangled and my guitar isn’t strumming properly. i send a request for replacements.

12/01/07 – turns out everyone and their mother is having issues with the guitar. EA promises to send a free game to make up for the boo boo.

12/06/07 – TWO WEEKS after i request replacements, i get the empty boxes to send all my stuff back.

12/07/07 – i send out my broken equipment the very next day. now i can only do a solo singing tour in the game.

12/17/07 – EA finally gives me choices on which game i get to pick out for free. i choose the simpsons.

12/22/07 – EA gets around to shipping my guitar. a month after my stuff broke, but i guess it’s understandable? it’s christmas and busy and everyone’s stuff was broken.

01/02/08 – into the new year and no sign of my drums. no update telling me parts have been shipped. i send another email to EA wondering where the hell it is. i’m supposed to get a response in 24 hours…

01/07/08 – five days later…i get an email stating there was a hiccup in the system and now my rma should be processing properly. can take up to 1-2 days, but it’s usually much quicker.

01/10/08 – i start playing new downloaded songs on rock band with the replacement guitar, and realize my guitar is still broken. send in another request for a replacement guitar to EA.

01/14/08 – i wait exactly one week and still no sign of the drums, or even an email with my tracking number. i write EA another email wondering what the hell is going on. this time, i get a pretty quick response. turns out my rma isn’t being processed properly and the customer service representative just made a new one. wtf. it’ll go out 2 day air and processed immediately.

01/17/08 – i go on ups.com to check out where the hell my shit is. i realize it’s usually 1 day for processing, 2 days to get here…but as with any online package tracking, i check it obsessively. apparently, it’s still at BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED.
so now…almost 2 months (to the day) later, i have no drum set, a broken guitar, and still no free game. i actually made out this timeline so i could have a visual for the next time bitch out EA. i wish i could find a god damn phone number…

addendum to my EA experience:

01/22/08 – receive new guitar via ups. also receive box with usb hub. usb hub box has everything already in it (including the headset adapters) but no actual hub. i assume it was supposed to an empty box that i was suppose to pack all my broken crap in and send out.

01/24/08 – still no sign of the kick pedal. decide to call ea again and request a fill in box to try and return everything to gamestop. if i cant, i’ll just throw it up on craigslist and possibly get a psp instead. call ea and spend 12 minutes of my 17 minute phone call on hold. the first girl i talk to i say, i want to return my stuff and still didn’t understand i wanted to return my stuff. supervisor gets on the phone and asks me if i wanted to know the status of my replacements. X( no, i want ot return my whole setup. give me a box to return it. he, of course, has no idea what i’m talking about and puts me on hold to go talk to other people about it. no one is in the office and he says he will call me back. *sigh*

FUCK YOU EA. I FUCKING HATE YOU.

on that note, i should do some reading for school before i head off to work. electric machines, here i come!

so when i talked to my landlord way back when about the water flowing into my apartment, i also asked about moving out and giving back keys and so on. when he came back to check on the carpet and stuff he told me he wanted to do a walkthrough and we could talk about the apartment. ok, fine…he set a tentative date for january 2. he was going out of town and would be back on january 1 and he would call me if he couldn’t make it on the 2nd.

come january 2, i called him and asked when he wanted to do the walkthrough. no phone call. i called again yesterday and asked about the walkthrough. i also let them know that i would be busy again start monday (i told them i would be available all weekend) and if i didn’t hear from them by sunday i would end up leaving the keys in the kitchen.

well, it’s sunday and i didn’t hear from them. so i stopped by the apartment to drop off the keys and to my surprise the landlords had been in the apartment. i only know this because they had told me before i moved out that they were going to put tile over where the carpet was ruined. on top of the kitchen counters were boxes of tile…waiting to be put over the floor. why they never bother to call me to do a quick walkthrough…i don’t know.

wtf landlords? >:\

my landlords didn’t bother to show up yesterday. and they never call me. do i called them again this morning and of course they didn’t pick up so i left a message asking what they were planning to do about the remaining mold colonies.

he finally calls me back to tell me that they made the decision to not rip everything up until after i moved out. they figured since they had successfully dried out the carpet it would be fine. why they didn’t bother to tell me i dont know. apparently if you dry out stinky moldy carpet it no longer smells either…i wish.

they told me if i really wanted they would come by and take out the carpet in the hallway but with the holidays and all they didn’t have much time. i think he said this because i told him i was moving a bunch of stuff and the cats because of the serious mold problem.

it wasn’t until i told him there were black spots all over the carpets and mentioned the carpet pad did he sound concerned. he told me that the carpet padding was checkered and has black apots anyway. o_O nooooo…the carpet padding is COVERED in mold. at this point he sounded a bit exasperated and unhappy and told me he would be by tomorrow to cut up the carpet.

you think landlords would check these things before making decisions that involve leaving really wet carpet for a week.

also, i’m either getting sick or have a mold allergy. i’m so ready to be out of here.

my landlords were supposed to stop by last night to take care of the carpet in the main hallway and surprise surprise, they never came.

so i wrote out a note and taped it to their industrial sized fan detailing my concern about the many mold communities sprouting up in my carpet overnight. i asked them if they were going to replace the carpet or at least rip it out so my cats and i dont have to breathe it in.

i decided to leave a note because whenever i call they never answer and when i ask them to call me, they never do and just show up when they feel like it. if i am not home during their unexpected visit, they will leav me a note insteas of calling me like i requested. i also took a picture of the taped note thia morning but didn’t have time to upload it. i was running a little late this morning.

hopefully thy stop by today and maybe call me regarding my newly acquired giganto petrie dish.

so today, on december 21, 2008 my carpet is finally dry. my initial call to the landlords was on december 16, 2008. WOW.

i am happy to report two days ago my landlords ripped out the carpet in the small mini hallway from the back door to the main hallway. there was a patch of black mold a foot in diameter growing on it and my poor cats, after dealing with smelly moldy carpet for days decided to pee on the carpet. there was nothing i could do to clean the pee since the carpet was still soaked in water and no amount of pee neutralizer would make it go away.

yesterday my landlord stopped by to inform me that they were airing out the moldy, pee soaked patch of carpet and would be getting ready to clean it and put it back. WHAT?! *barf* he then tried to blame the smell on the litter box being right where the patch of carpet was and having the cats kick out litter. apparently, when cat litter gets soaked in carpet…it starts to smell like cat pee? er…my litter box has a hood and i vacuum at least once a week. whatever. if he tries to passive-aggressively blame the smell on my lack of cleanliness, he has another thing coming. unfortunately, he woke me up so i was in no state to argue logically during this conversation. so lame…i should have just told him that the entire building smelled like nasty mold until my cats peed on the carpet recently and then the apartment building smelled like mold+cat pee.

but…RETURNING THE PATCH OF MOLDY, PEE-SOAKED CARPET. fucking gross. i feel bad for the person who will be moving in next.

also, today as i was walking to the kitchen i realized more black spots popping up on the carpet in the main hallway. (i’ve been gone all day for a few days due to other incidents in life and haven’t spent much time at home) now there is more mold on the hallway carpet, and i seriously doubt the landlords are going to replace it. i also know for a fact that the bathroom in the apartment next door has a serious mold problem underneath the tiles that they never took care of when the resident moved out, and they just had a new person move it. erk.

so i’m wondering what they’re going to do to eradicate the mold in the hallway carpet, i imagine just clean it. which wont get rid of the mold. SICK.

here are some pics i took tonight, just in case…

oh, the foamy checkered stuff is what is underneath the carpet.