Cooking...?

Okay, so this doesn't quite fit into the nerdy theme of the blog, but I guess cooking kind of is nerdy.

I've always liked to cook. It's really fun, and perfecting delicious recipes is just one more reason to brag about what you can do. It's really exciting to try new recipes and see how they come out. I just made homemade caramel sauce to put in an apple-caramel cheesecake recipe. I'm pumped to see how it all will come out.

I also have a really good pizza dough recipe that my dad showed me. It's delicious dough, but the only way to make really good pizza with awesome flavor is to cook it in really well-seasoned cast iron skillets. Ask any of my friends, and they'll agree.

One of my favorites is my lava cake recipe. Have you ever had one of those mini chocolate cakes where the middle is still goo and when you cut into it, it runs out? It's warm, chocolate-y goodness with a moist cake to make it even better. Yeah, I've got a recipe for it and I can 9 times out of 10 pull it off. There's always that funky one every few times that manages to over-cook... but chocolate cake is still delicious too!

Do any of you guys have good recipes that you like to make?

Firefly

So I just watched my first episode of Firefly last night. It's pretty tough to explain the show because I've only seen the pilot episode, but I'll give it a shot. It's futuristic, kind of like a Star Wars theme. There's a ship of crooks, though they're really just scavengers trying to find things like food to distribute to people. It's a very poor universe; people are starving and the government isn't helping out the people. The captain of those scavengers owns a ship and they go on missions to get paid. They are a very poor bunch. I can't give away much more without giving away the whole thing... So if you're interested, you should go watch the show. Unfortunately, there's only one season of the show because it got cancelled.

I played some League last night. I destroyed going mid. I got super-fed early game and started killing everyone. I think I ended up 16-5-9 or something like that. We played a game before that, but we lost :(

Picking computers

Something that I am respected for by my friends, I guess is the best way to put it, is my taste in computers. I am always looking for cutting-edge technology. When it came time to get a new computer, I knew all of the available options and what out of those options I wanted. Fast processor, good screen, dedicated graphics card, a solid amount of RAM, etc, etc. I picked a very nice computer at a very reasonable price. My friends all liked my choice and looked into computers like mine.

I've had several people approach me and ask me what kind of computer to buy. I'm currently helping one person find a laptop for college and another that will play games well, but not break his bank account. It's all in looking at what someone needs; someone who just wants to browse the web doesn't need an i7 processor with 12 GB of RAM and 1 TB of hard drive memory. However, you don't want to skimp out on a cheapie i3 processor which isn't too much better than going with any other duo-core. The middle of the road processor is the i5, which is what I see most people need. I went for the i7 because I needed my computer to be fast enough to be able to run some heavy-duty engineering programs with no problem. The basic requirements that I believe all people looking for college should have are:
-i5 processor (or better, depending on the major)
-4 GB of RAM (It's hard to find anything less than that any more. For gamers, 6, 8, or 12 will be better.)
-An art history or a math major doesn't need a dedicated graphics card, whereas someone who will play more games or run intensive programs will. Beware on this one - always look to see if the graphics card is integrated with the processor (the Intel "i" line has integrated graphics cards with their processors). If you need a dedicated one, make sure your computer has one.
-Windows 7 of any kind will do. Don't get Vista, and XP is getting outdated. It's hard to find programs for it.
-A decent size. 15" is a good size. It's a little on the heavier side if you are going to be carrying it up hills. 13" is acceptable as it reduces weight, but be prepared to pay more for it. Computer companies know that students look for smaller laptops. Two computers with the same specs but different screen sizes will have different prices; the 13" will be more expensive than the 15".
-Webcams are nice to be able to chat with Mom and Dad at home, given that they have a laptop with one.
-Something that mine doesn't have, a fingerprint scanner. These nifty devices are cool because if someone sees that the laptop has a fingerprint scanner, they're going to be less likely to steal it, as it adds more security to your computer.

These tips are all given that you are buying a PC. Macs are a whole different story.

Tablets

Has anyone considered getting a tablet? They're pretty slick, especially if you get the right setup. I have one that I'm hoping to get for college to make taking notes easier. It is an Asus Transformer Prime, which is one of the top of the line tablets. Reviews are saying it's even better than the iPad 2. What's cool about the Transformer series is that it is a tablet, but with an extension dock, you can make it into a laptop with a touch screen. There's also an app you can get that allows you to be typing notes away on your keyboard and say the professor starts to draw a graph; all you do is you draw the graph on the touchscreen, and then you can drop it right into your text notes, and even resize it while it's in your text. The battery life is around 16 hours with the dock, if I remember correctly. I'll pull up a link when I get on my laptop.

EDIT: I found the link to the tablet: http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Transformer-TF201-B1-GR-10-1-Inch-Amethyst/dp/B0067PLM5E

Diablo 3

Okay, so here's where my embarrassment lies: I tend to jump into games that have a series, but start on the second or third one. I've done that with a good amount of books too, which is pretty upsetting. So I played Diablo 3 on a friend's computer and I loved the game so much, I bought it. However, I have never played Diablo 1 or 2. I really like the game, so I might plan on playing them at some time, but it still bugs me. I get the storyline pretty well, but I feel like I would understand it better if I had played the first two games first. Does anyone else do this?

Weekend Fun

So I had some friends over for the weekend and we just played video games until 3 AM. It was a good time.

One of my friends crashed, while the other stayed up to play League with me. We decided to troll a few games with the "Ultimate Bravery" builds: completely randomized builds for completely randomized champs. It was hilarious; we won almost all of them, but because the rest of the team carried. There was one in particular, though, that we lost. Both my friends and I were playing, and I was playing a support champion without a support build (an Ultimate Bravery build). I ended up carrying the game because three people left the game. I won my lane, but we got pushed in the others and ended up losing. To the AI. How embarrassing... The funny part was seeing a support with a random build go 15-5-18. It was ridiculous.

The other awesome part about the weekend was DIABLO 3. AHHHHHHHHHH. My friend let me play a little on his laptop and I decided to buy it. I don't normally drop 60 bucks on a video game, but the game is sooooo good. I've gotten started, I'm only about level 10, but I can see why people say it's a time suck. First of all, it's an 8 GB game, and with my crappy internet, it took me 3 hours just to download it enough to play it. I haven't even finished downloading it yet. Second, the game is addicting.

We also played some Magic, but that wasn't really a highlight. I worked on my blue-black control deck, one of my friends is fixing it up for me. The two friends who came over made an angel deck, which was pretty beast. I played my best deck against it and lost once, then won once. The first game was longer, but the second game was much more BS for him. I had some of the best cards in the deck out, and my life was almost 30 more than starting health.

So no, I didn't go to prom. I played video games instead :D

A penny for your thoughts

I'm sitting here scanning yearbooks and thinking about how technology is going to advance in the next five years, ten years, twenty years. This tedious process of scanning yearbooks probably won't be happening in five years. They'll probably come out with digital copies of them along with the original hard-cover ones. But to think of how scanning is going to work in the future? I bet they'll have machines that you can insert a book, it might rip off the covers, and scan the book, and bind it back together for you after every page is scanned. I wonder how long it would take to develop that technology. How long is it gong to be until paper becomes obselete, if it ever does? That would eliminate so many jobs, such as my dad's in the local paper mill. But what about the environmental payoff? I love to see the development of technology because I believe technology can be cleaner than our traditional methods, like hybrid cars and electric cars, but at what expense do these new norms bring us?