maggied’s blag

I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows a bit earlier today. No spoilers, though, I promise. It’s interesting how the popularity of the novels and then the movies grew so rapidly to the “fateful” moment of the release of the Seventh Book. I’ve tried to think of something else that has captured such a wide spread audience like this, but I can’t really think of it. I wonder how millions of people are dealing with it finally being over. Or will it actually be over? Who knows.

I hope that for the sake of it all, the universe that is Harry Potter doesn’t get killed by ridiculous “Expanded Universe” stuff a la Star Wars. While I enjoyed reading EU novels, I feel like most of it was just trying to extend that which should have just remained complete. To an extent, the creation of the prequel trilogy (episodes I-III) seemed inappropriate. It’s the inevitable conflict between letting something rest, and trying to squeeze as much cash as possible out of something that has already captured a large fan base. I really hate that, so I hope that HP doesn’t turn out that way too.

Was it all worth it? Maybe, I don’t really know.

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I finally finished reading the His Dark Materials Trilogy. Over all, I really enjoyed the books. I found it to be a nice combination of a youthful fantasy novel (mainly The Golden Compass), with a beautifully written transition to evaluate life overall (The Amber Spyglass). I can’t really decide which book was my favorite. Anyway, I’d like to get into a bit of spoiler related material, so if you don’t want any spoilers, don’t keep reading.
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*NIX users out there may have heard of rsync. Rsync is somewhat similar to rcp or scp, but is, in my humble and completely unbiased opinion, way better. The “big deal” about rsync is the fact that, unlike other forms of copying, rsync only transfers the differences found between the source and target files and/or directories. This makes it ideal when one needs to backup files, or when one is working with files on more than one computer. The first time you run rsync, it copies all the files to the target location. The next time you run it, though, it just copies the differences. Pretty sweet.

Personally, I use rsync when I’m transferring files between the servers at MGH, and the Mac at the lab. Although I ultimately only edit a file or two, it’s preferable to have the subject’s full folder (about 1GB or so) on the hard drive. Rsync makes this a real piece of cake.

Rsync, like lots of other powerful and useful programs, would be all over the place, if only it were extremely intuitive. I don’t think it is that bad (I just use rsync -a source target), but IBM has a really great article about rsync for those who want a better feel for it than that. The article can be found here.

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I just read this article about a new torrent client called ZipTorrent. The client, modded from the popular Java based client, Azureus, has options such as “no upload”, send fake data, always appear as a leech (0% complete), always appear as a seed (100% complete), and so on. The point is, essentially, to use this software to catch individuals who might be downloading copyrighted files. This is pretty scary, so whatever you are downloading, I’d say to keep an eye out for anyone using the ZipTorrent client. Unfortunately, it seems that the client might also be able to “appear” as a different client, so there is really no way to be sure.

Probably the biggest threat with this client is the fact that it functions as a peer on the Bittorrent file(s) with you. From what I have read, it is typically more common for individuals to be caught based on tracker logs, rather than directly interacting with a peer from the government. It is much easier, after all, to review tracker logs, as compared with logging into each torrent that might contain pirated media. Proxies such as Tor are great for appearing as someone else on tracker logs, but they are very inefficient when it comes to peer-to-peer connections, so this is a little scary.

The safest bet for people, is, of course, to not download pirated media, but if you do, there are probably a few things to do to not get caught. Use a firewall and/or proxy, like Tor (I’m sure there are others that are also very good, but I haven’t done too much research), and avoid particularly sketchy seeming torrents. In particular, torrents for movies recently in theaters or released to DVD are prime targets for the government to track. I read a story a while ago about the government themselves hosting a Spiderman 2 torrent to catch individuals eager to get a recording. Seed up to your ratio, but don’t leave the torrent open for too long. If you are connected to peers, and your bittorrent client seems to keep downloading “junk” data, get the heck off the torrent. You can try restarting the torrent, as sometimes these things just tend to happen of their own accord, but it might be a safe bet to stay away if it happens again. Another thing to try is to use private trackers. These trackers require you to be invited to use the service, and are much more secure than random torrents out there. Although people out to bust you can still access the torrents if they get invited, one is still much safer using a private tracker. I’m looking to get an invite to Demonoid or another private tracker, so if anyone uses one, please let me know and/or invite.

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Note: read pt. 1 first

Monday was relatively uneventful. I went to work a little late, but hung around in lab alone even later than usual. I set up a wiki-like system for the Beast Cooperative Sci-fi novel, along with a subversion repository, and then we watched some GITS, and then I read more of the Subtle Knife. Tuesday, I managed to wake up at the surprising hour of 8am (I was proud of myself). I checked email for a while, then worked out, showered, locked myself out of my room, got back into said room, ate breakfast, returned my lockout key, and was in lab all before 10:30am. It felt great to have done that much before I usually wake up on other days. Worked until around 6:15pm, with a nice UROP lunch at 12pm, and then spent the entire rest of the evening at a lab going away party for a post doc in the lab. We had a delicious persian meal (I have left overs in the fridge hehe).

Wednesday, I slept in pretty late because I was so tired. I got home late, worked out again, ate pasta with some chicken from the lab party, and Katie gave me ice cream (yay!). Subsequently, we all went and played pool for free until 1am, which was pretty fun too. Thursday, I worked, listened to most of the rest of The Subtle Knife on audio tape, and went to Quiznos after work (mmm quiznos). I finished the Subtle Knife later on, and went to the rush meeting. Afterward, we watched more GITS (it had been a few days), and I started reading The Amber Spyglass, which I have enjoyed so far.

Weekend plans consist of character creation for D&D this afternoon, going to the beach and hopefully seeing Harry Potter on Saturday, and probably just food shopping on Sunday.

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Note: this post is really long.

Time for a real update on what has been happening over the course of the past week or so. I was home from Thursday afternoon to Sunday night. Despite my great-grandpa’s passing, I still went out to enjoy the fireworks. It was drizzling a bit, but overall the fireworks were fun. We sat inside a causeway in one of the E buildings (I forget which exactly), and heard the concert over the radio. An older woman kept proudly telling us all that “she was from Hawaii, and she wanted to be sure to enjoy her fireworks,” which resulted in her excitement when I found a radio stream on my computer to play for her, and her agitation when a few people were loud playing cards. While the woman was pretty adorable, it got annoying after awhile. As we were waiting for the fireworks to begin, I started playing Chrono Trigger again. I suck at save states, so I wound up playing the fair over about 5 times, but that’s okay. Over the weekend, I played another few hours of the game, but haven’t played since then.

I went into lab briefly on Thursday morning, and took the regional Amtrak service back to Stamford, where my dad picked me up. Played Chrono Trigger and read The Subtle Knife at home the rest of the evening, because we had a long day on Friday. My dad and I woke up around 9am and got bagels. mmm New York bagels. We skipped lunch, picked my grandmother and grandfather up from the airport. My grandpa had an infection on his leg from surgery earlier in the month, but despite the hype he was able to walk fine with his cane. Other than his leg, he looked great.

The rest of the evening was pretty agonizing. Wakes in particular are really difficult because you are forced both to confront the fact that someone has died (it was an open casket) and engage in extremely irritating small talk with people you see maybe once every few years. All the kids get pissed off because their parents keep introducing them to people that they don’t remember, but have probably already met at some other family function. People ask, “How’s the job going?” or “MIT, huh, how do you like it up there?” and it just gets really frustrating. During a time such as this, I’d rather not be talking about myself. Personally, I like it much better to just sit down on the bench and reflect on the situation.

Another thing that I found frustrating about the whole experience is the fact that people are overeager about comforting you. It’s as if there needs to be a quick fix for something that clearly lacks one. There is absolutely nothing anyone else can say to you to instantly make everything feel okay again. Why bother trying? It’s great that one would like to show his compassion by giving the other person a hug or a rub on the back, but I dislike it when people try to console me by saying “He lived a great life, he’s in a better place now.” I’m not five; I know this fact. At the same time, I sincerely feel like the wake and funeral are a time not only to celebrate the life of an individual who has passed, but also give you that window of time during which it’s completely okay to mourn. You’ve already taken the time out of your work schedule to make it for the services, so why not use this time to really get out any of the emotion that you try to keep inside? That’s exactly what I want to do when I go to a wake. I want to feel that pain, and people trying to make me feel better by telling me “he’s in a better place now” seems to miss the point.

Anyway, Friday night I hung around with my cousins from Pennsylvania, and watched Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas after everyone had gone to bed, which was very enjoyable, although I think some of that was offset by how hyped up the movie had been. Saturday was the Funeral; I had not been to mass in several months, so it was kind of weird to be back. It was also difficult for me to deal with being at church at a time when I was feeling particularly bitter toward the church. I tried to put these things behind me for the service. My great-grandfather’s name had been put on his headstone years ago, which was kind of weird, and all that was not there was the date. After the funeral, we went out to lunch at my great-grandpa’s country club together as a big family before it was time to move on with our individual lives. Things seemed to look up from there; although this was one of the first days in quite some time that the sunshine didn’t manage to cheer me up, I began to feel a degree of closure about things.

I met up with my very close friend Paul on Saturday evening, after watching Harold and Kumar go to White Castle to cheer myself up. We chatted for a while and Paul got some dinner. I drank a large Powerade because Paul didn’t want his drink; DON’T EVER DO THIS. I’m serious; I peed 5 times in 4 hours because of it. We hung around for a bit, then met up with a few of my other friends at home, climbed and rested in a tree for a bit. We stopped by a deli sometime after midnight, and hung out at my friend Emma’s house for a bit. I was totally exhausted though, and retired at the early hour of 2:30am.

I slept late Sunday, which worried my parents but I was just tired. We left for Stamford around 4:30pm, and when we arrived, the train didn’t show up on the TV, so we freaked out. Eventually, it appeared, and said “ON TIME.” My parents get ready to leave to meet my grandma for dinner, but then hear that my train is now “90 MINUTES LATE.” Great. I buy a puzzle book for $3 and settle in. Mom and Dad leave after about 30 minutes, but I’m stuck at the station until 8:35, when the train should have come at 5:48. Also great. Eventually, I arrive in South Station at midnight, and everything is closed. Fortunately I had the foresight to ask Capen to pick me up, so we drove off, got lost in Boston, and then finally I made it back home at 12:40am, nestled into bed with my book, and went to bed.

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I first blogged about Remember the Milk a little while ago when I was talking about My Quest. Very recently, RTM added a function that lets you sync your tasks via Twitter. Basically, you can now access RTM via IM, SMS, the Twitter web page, or other Twitter applications. I tried it out, and although the Twitter interface itself is a little confusing, the results were pretty satisfying.

Ever find yourself without a standard medium to record a quick note? This new interface between Twitter and RTM will allow you to text message a reminder to yourself. I know for me at least, I have my cell phone with me pretty much all the time, so this is pretty convenient.

For example, I was walking back from EC towards Stata, when I remembered that I forgot to change the sign on my door. I text messaged myself with a reminder, and now when I go home I’ll see the reminder in RTM. There have been countless times when I’ve been en route somewhere, realize something, can’t do anything about it, and then forget to remind myself the next time I’m at a computer. This pretty much eliminates that possibility, which is awesome.

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Over the past month or so, I’ve become reliant upon RSS feeds for my news. I really disliked browsing bloated news websites, so RSS feeds bring the news right to me, so to speak. Google Reader is probably my favorite RSS reader that I’ve come across. Liferea for linux is also nice, though.

The main reason I have been using Google Reader is because this way I can check my feeds where ever I am by logging into my gmail account. Because I use lots of different computers, this is most convenient. However, I think there are some really good offline clients out there that do a great job (maybe even better).

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My great-grandfather passed away today at around 1pm. He was 98. Grandpa Ed had been slowly going down hill over the past few months, and we were not sure when his time would come. I spoke with my mom at 12:38pm, and they were just about to leave to go over and visit him (they had been visiting at least once a week since the summer began), and he passed away sometime before they arrived. I got the call from my dad at 1:38pm. I don’t know any of the arrangements yet, but I will be heading home for a few days soon.

Everyone used to always joke with grandpa Ed that he’d make it to 100 and more; even earlier in the year, he was at the gym, exercising on the treadmill! The last time I saw him, he had been in the hospital because fluid was filling up in his lungs. I only got to see him for about 5 minutes because he was tired, so I’m sad that that was the last time I got to see him. I spoke with him briefly on the phone the day after my birthday, but he couldn’t hear me on the phone. What probably bothers me the most is the fact that I never got to speak with him while he was on his death bed. My parents told me that even though his body deteriorated, he remained strong in his mind to the very end. He was frustrated that his body was giving out on him, when his mind was still completely there. Grandpa could tell you stories from the 1940s as if they’d happened yesterday. He knew a lot about the world, and loved to talk about it with his great-grandchildren, because he was determined that it would be us that would change the world for better or for worse.

He was one of my biggest supporters over the course of my life. Grandpa would always tell me that if I worked hard, I’d go places. He would always brag about his great-grandchildren to his card buddies. I was really proud to tell him that I was accepted to MIT, and every time I saw him he would ask me about my research. Even though he lived a long and fruitful life, I wish he could have been around a bit longer to see his younger great-grandchildren grow up. It brought him such joy to see how much each of us had grown (both physically and mentally) over the years.

Sigh. I think I myself will be fine. Although death is always unfortunate, I’ve been anticipating the call from my parents ever since I came back to MIT. Every time my parents phoned, I would get nervous, thinking that this might be it, but it never was until now. I’m much more concerned about his wife, my great-grandma Kay (he remarried, so she isn’t related to me by blood, technically), my Grandma (his only daughter) and my Mom (she was always his favorite grand-daughter). I’m going to be sure to spend plenty of time with them while I’m home to help them get through this.

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My AC finally arrived. Yay! Despite the fact that it’s not particularly hot out anymore, I will now be able to keep my room at a reasonable temperature throughout the year. It’s kind of loud, but I’m sure I’ll get used to that quickly, and I don’t really mind all that much anyway. Thanks to Jason for helping me lug it up the stairs, and Charles for setup.

We started watching the second season of Ghost in the Shell today, and I recently downloaded the entire GITS music collection. I really love the music. It’s Yoko Kanno, who also did the music for Cowboy Bebop.

I don’t have to go to work tomorrow, but I feel a little bad because all of the staff have to be in lab to finish up a grant proposal. The grant is due to MIT on Monday, so hopefully things with my new experiment will get started. If the day works out as I hope, I’ll get to go sailing (with a hat this time, so my poor scalp doesn’t burn more), eat at the East Campus and/or Senior House barbecues, and finally watch the fireworks. I’ve seen the Boston fireworks on TV several times, but I’m excited to finally see them in person.

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