yo yo, sorry i haven't posted anything new lately. i've been preoccupied with doing nothing over fall "break". I went to raliegh three times to break with juan and phil. i finally feel that i'm improving somewhat and I've decided to quit school, forget jobs and become a full time professional break dancer. I'll live off my winnings at competitions or something. hehe, well, ummmm...maybe not. anyways, enjoy the photo!


this is my "wanna-be" air-chair

jenny's leaving on sunday, and i'm stuck at the library doing stupid 142 hw. got two programs to write too. sigh...

just had my computer graphics exam...didn't do as well as i could have but at least it's over now still have to work on hw for operating systems though.. man that class is no joke. but once i get that done i'll have more time to devote to the readers of my websites. maybe i'll finish coolhofchat finally, hehe.. and i brought my webcam today, so at break practice i'll record some .avi's of me and ma cru-mates. hopefully to be posted soon. that's it for now...

got a lot done this weekend. i'm 95% done with 2 out of three programs which are all due this week. And i'm 40-50% done with the third one. Even though I still have to document and add assertions to the one that's due tomorrow I feel good b/c I was really struggling with it earlier. Part of the assignment is to read in a string from standard input. Pressing Ctrl-D indicates the end of file and starts the next process. I was working on a Windows platform (MS-J++) which opens a DOS console window. The program was supposed to be done on the school's UNIX machines. I was just writing it on windows since I was offline for most of the weekend. anyways, I couldn't get my freakin' first thread to complete because, little did I know, Ctrl-D is not recognized by DOS as the char value of -1. So, after a few hours of pulling my hair out I tried Ctrl-Every key on the whole damn keyboard, and out of dumb luck I pressed Ctrl-X followed by Ctrl-Z (since they follow each other in the order I was typing), and it worked! so, I was able to continue programming. That was about 5 hours ago. Now i'm finally online and very happy b/c Ctrl-D now works fine, since I'm in UNIX. My program runs perfectly and now I have to add a bunch of comments and assertions and go to bed. I'm ready for computer graphics program tomorrow!

it's currently 4:32 AM on Friday morning according to my computer's clock. i'm at the undergrad library programming, been here since about 12:30 AM. I got class at 10. should i stay and work until then, go to class and then go home and sleep? or go home now, sleep for 4 hours and come back? either way i'll be tired as hell during class. i think the best solution is to skip class completely. i have 3 programs to write this weekend, two of which are difficult. plus, i have to work on a webpage or three. i had a test on wednesday in the class i have at 10 so i'm pretty caught up. i think i did well. anyways i need my sleep more than anything. these next few days are crucial being that i'll be programming for most of the day and night. Thus, sleep is the most important thing i need. yup...i'm going home now and sleeping till noon or 1. gosh i'm weak.

chu-mal means weekend in korean. and i thought "weekend" as a header would be quite boring. anyway, weekend's here. woohoo! actually not, since i'm stuck home with a slight cold and 2 programs to write. Jenny is here too, pacing around my room cleaning while listening to my minidisc player. Earlier I did laundry at phil and tatsu's place since our own facilities seem to be broken. Before that i had class and then studied with steven for a few hours before i picked jenny up at her internship. we were originally supposed to go see that new lucy liu movie and then go out to dinner. we skipped the flick and ate at Spanky's. i made a resolution this weekend to stay in and work. i mean, i always have lots of work to do, but for some reason i'm extra stressed now. could be a combo of school, sickness, relationship, and job-hunting. manana (tomorrow in espanol..hehe, check out my linguistic savvy!), there's a kamikazi brunch of some sort at sheng and marvin's place. afterwards i am planning on working on uncexchange.com all day, or until it's completed. oh that reminds me, today i saw a flyer for a site called tarheelexchange.com. it seems like a (cheap) replica of our site. the name itself is familiar for some reason. whatever, competition is good i guess. it'll make things more interesting. ok, enough procrastination...back to programming.

High paying job with little or no work, haha, j/k. With graduation approaching, I have two feasible options.
1)Enter the working world and become a mindless programmer.
2)Grad school and suffer through 3 more years of homework.
Not really sure which option to go for yet. but i'm leaning towards option number one. if any of you out there living in non-rural areas know of any job positions for CS grads or of any job fairs in your area. contact me immediately. gracias.

ASA beach trip was last weekend. I picked up jenny around 5 at RDU. We left Chapel Hill at 8. a freakin' four hour long drive to the house in SC. It was bigger than last year's and it was right on the beach. When we got there everyone was fully intoxicated which made the night even more amusing. Hands down this was the best beach trip i've been to. Friday night was the most fun too. Everyone was so carefree and happy. By Saturday you could already feel the usual tension between the ASA members. Everyone was tired too and hungover. On saturday we went on the beach and then went outlet shopping, as usual. Then ate at a fish and steak house. I had steak. At night we tried to go clubbing. It turns out that Duke's ASA had a beach trip on that same weekend as us and they were also going to a club that night. I'm sure the fact that Daniel's girfriend is a Duke ASA officer had nothing to do with the fact that we went to the same club. anyways...we got there late so under 21 peeps couldn't get in. It turned into a huge asian mess. so we just played video games at the arcade. But those assholes kicked us out at 2, just after i purchased 5 more dollars in tokens. and they wouldn't let me redeem them!! It was an overall fun night. we came home and played mafia till 4. some stayed up to watch the sunrise (mackin' on some cute freshman girls). that's it. I'll put up pics tomorrow after i finish these three programs that are due.

hrmmm...the weekend's over now (actually not for me though since i only have one class tomorrow and it's gymnastics, hahaha!!) but i still haven't finished all the work i'd like to. i'm about 1/3 thru my 136 program and still haven't even started 142. i did my stat hw though and worked extensively on a tensize project. i slept (a lot) and watched "The Royal Tennenbaums." (funny). I'd say this weekend was fairly productive despite not finishing my programs. but, it's only 4 pm so i still have time. i'm breakin' at 6 so that leaves me 2 hours to work on my 136 program. ... ... ...

jenny's coming on friday...pics coming soon

ha, no class on monday. i love labor day! unfortunately i won't be doing anything fun though. i have three programs to write, due in two weeks, but i should at least try to complete them this weekend since jenny's getting here on friday. and i know i won't be doing much school work then. although i like to trick myself into thinking i will. also, working on a few top secret projects to make lots of money and control the world. yupyup

hit up player's club tonight with phil and paul. i think dancing is always fun, no matter what. even though i didn't really know many people there. for some reason i feel comfortable on the dance floor. more so than at a bar. i love music, and i love dancing. speaking of which, kamikazi tryouts are next wednesday, 9pm at the SRC, 2nd floor. i guess i have to tryout again too. i'm perty confident though. we also have a breakin' meeting tomorrow to plan our future as the "Hillside Crew." you bes' watch out.

this semester is gonna be the least social of my 5 semesters that i've been at carolina (me thinks). my classes are insanely demanding and even though i'm only taking 4 (plus gymnastics) i'm stressed like a mofo. i got them all on the same days too (monday and wednesday). first i got statistics, then computer graphics, WWW programing, and operating systems(ugh!). and today our prof was saying how he will understand if we are absent at times due to job interviews. job interviews? ... i'm screwed. gotta look for a job and study. sorry if i quit emailing and im-ing...i'll prolly be in the library.

in other news, today was me and jenny's 17 month anniversary. almost hit the 1.5 plateau. she'll actually be in chapel hill for it. i gotta think of something special. i'm taking suggestions.

classes started...got four on mon/wed, just one gym class on tues/thurs (gymnastics), and one on friday. pretty sweet schedule i think. already got hw though.. plus i got mad s*** to do. gotta finish up coolhofchat and uncnightlife, write a resume and find a job (sigh), finish unpacking, and study too. but i guess everyone's got s*** to do too. we're all busy 4 life.

finally done moving out of KT (Kensington Trace) and into Finley Forest(cheaper, larger, and better location). I built all my furniture so now it's time to unpack. other news, today was fall fest @ UNC, they block off a whole road in the middle of campus and set up stands, have performances, and whatnot. I was in two performances, first Kamikazi, then with my breakin' crew "Tri-Sol" aka "Lady Boyz." I'll try to scan some pics and post them. Two more performances on tuesday. I guess all i'll be doing this year is breakin' and studying. . . I can live with that.

i'm bought a futon, shelves, dresser, and tv stand. this futon is very rebellious. it don't fit together right. i'm really frustrated right now. stupid futon. why doesn't it freakin' fit together!? gotta go back to the store and ask them for help. i'm retarded or something. and then i have to build the rest of my shit and then unpack. oh yeah, and finish moving out of the old apartment. classes start tuesday. not much time left.

i'm back in chapel hill!! same cell phone #: 919.593.2738

met john and big dan this weekend. i picked up big dan in china town, nyc on saturday afternoon. He took some cheap chinese bus from boston to new york, only 15 bucks. kewl. what's the first thing we did? drive to atlantic city where john, his big bro, and some other kid named john were already gambling (and down $200 when we got there). not the same without jamie though. big dan was the only one up at the end of the night. i lost a little, but it was worth the fun. and john, well, "poor john" (shooter1kr). john took a late bus home and dan slept over my house. we went into new york today and shopped a little, ate a little fine chinese cuisine, and then dan left around 7. another reunion in the books. (to be continued...)

join me

shooter1kr: aite, spelling correction, its roosendaal
BenM2750: ok
shooter1kr: dude, cant believe u put those last 2 pics up haha
BenM2750: ok, all fixed
BenM2750: yeah, nice huh
shooter1kr: I like the pic with the leffe glass
shooter1kr: its artistic
BenM2750: haha, i know
shooter1kr: ur like the hugh hefner of beer glasses
BenM2750: you're like the hitler of rabbits
shooter1kr: heil tokki deul

i went to the beach yesterday with some friends. we stayed at a friends beach house. it was so damn relaxing. i love the beach, really. i was never a huge fan of the ocean but recently i got to appreciate it more. the water was perfect temperature although the waves were kinda lame. and the sun was just hot enough to get tan but not too hot where you're really uncomfortable. we played some basketball at this awesome court right on the bay. the best possible scenery for ballin'. then we grilled up some steak, chicken, and veggies. yum. this was also the first time i took the car out for a real trip. i'm getting the hand of driving stick. and now that i can i wish i had a faster car. stick isn't that fun unless you have a sports car i think. anyways, for you korea peeps, i'm still working on it... i'm also planning on posting new pics from me and jenny's visit to rosandaal (where timo lives). so look forward to that. and soon after the pics from this weekend with john and dan. exciting huh? well, it's late and i'm beat. :P

these past few days have basically been just chillin' days. nothing special. gonna see big dan and john this weekend, i think. i know you're jealous ggup. john and jason's surgery...damn we're all gettin' old. send 'em an e-card or something. later.

well, i'm home again...i got to drive my new (used) car for the first time. i stalled here and there but i'm getting the hang of it. not quite ready to drive to nc, but i will be in a week. i didn't realize how freakin' hot it is here. germany's weather gets hot occassionally, but nothing like jersey. it's mad humid here, and stepped off the plane in jeans and a sweat shirt. now i'm home...sigh, ...got some things to do though. like go to the doctor, get new glasses, go to the dentist, get my car inspected, learn how to drive stick, see friends, and promote a new project i'm working on. i'm sure i'm leaving a few things out which i forgot, but i'm tired, been travelling all day...

actually, not only have i been travelling all day, i've been standing and waiting in long ass lines all day too. it started in frankfurt when i checked in. Then i had to pass thru immigration in Germany followed by 3 security checks. Then i had to wait at the gate for 2 hours since the flight got delayed. 8 hours on the plane... Then immigration and customs in Newark, and finally i was home.

today is my last day at my internship. not too many tears shed. gonna visit timo one last time in holland tomorrow. and i'm leaving for good on saturday. can't wait to drive my new (used) car.

French people are well known for being extremely rude. Not only have i heard this from just about every person who's visited, but french people have even told me that themselves. but maybe there's a good reason for this. paris is one of the prettiest cities i've seen, but it's so infested with tourists that it even makes me mad. and if i were french i'd be really really mad. it's not like other touristy cities where the real citizens and tourists don't mix. in paris it seemed like there were tourists everywhere. i saw one stupid american lady wearing an american flag shirt, american flag pants, carrying an american flag purse, and wearing a vermont hat with an american flag pin. national pride is one thing, but when you're traveling to another country, that sort of fashion is more of an insult.

then there's the whole thing about french people not speaking english to you. the rest of the european world is pretty much bilingual which makes traveling through europe cake, not to mention the EURO which makes things even easier. but shopping or ordering food is a bitch in paris. french people don't speak english and if they do they usually refuse to speak it. i'm tending to believe the former. their educational system ain't the greatest. jenny took a year or two of french in school, otherwise we would have been completely lost. also, national monuments, tourist attractions, and menus are rarely in english. you'd figure that a city like paris would have the decency to display information about the eiffel tower in english since 80% of people visiting are probably americans, or at least people who don't speak french. but no. my only advice to you would be to try to speak any french you know to them instead of just speaking english from the start. whenever we would speak english they would start going off in french, but when we showed some effort in speaking french they would try english.

our trip was scheduled to leave sunday at 1 pm. we went to the top of the eiffel tower in the morning, took our sweet time walking around, got some ice cream....and then got lost looking for the bus. we missed it. stuck in paris, sigh. but i guess paris ain't too bad a city to get stuck in. i mean, it's one thing to get stuck in harlem, another to be lost in possibly the coolest city ever. so we decided to stay one more day and enjoy the cheese, wine, and scenery. luckily, we also visited during the final stage of the tour de france. i don't know the first thing about cycling and personally i don't care either. i think it's pretty boring. but there was a huge crowd there so we took a gander and were able to see all the cyclists coming to the finish line. pretty phat actually. lance armstong won again, fourth straight time i think. anyways...we left finally on monday around 1. got home by 8:30.

this friday me and jenny are taking a trip to france. it's a cheap bus tour, 2 & 1/2 days for €79. Not really sure what i want to see. I'm just kinda going because everyone goes there. I hope it's fun. good wine and cheese me thinks.

My parents have been searching for a while and came across a '95 Golf, black, 5 speed, 50K miles,... but it was being repainted so they couldn't really look at it. It was about $8,000. That seemed like our best bet, until my sister found a Honda Civic 5 speed at the same dealership for $3K less. It was a '95 as well, blue, 89,000 miles. My mom put a deposit on it on Saturday. HAHA! I have a car! finally. So as long as it checks out with our mechanic, I'll be joining all of you UNC-ers next fall.
the end

Timo's coming to Düsseldorf today. New pics'll be up soon.

it's 5:00 now...still at my internship, goin home now. need a nap. later.

arpfive: hi
b e n m 2 7 5 0: sup
arpfive: dude i met bill nye today
b e n m 2 7 5 0: fo real?
b e n m 2 7 5 0: how?
arpfive: ya
arpfive: we went to the breakfast of champions
b e n m 2 7 5 0: what's that
arpfive: at a senate building which is an award ceremony recognizing congressmen and senator for their dedication to science and bill nye was the host
b e n m 2 7 5 0: that's funny as hell
arpfive: and so at end we got our picture taken with him
arpfive: so i also found out he does graduation commencement ceremonies
b e n m 2 7 5 0: oh
arpfive: he's hillarious in perosn
arpfive: this was one of my highlights for the sumemr
b e n m 2 7 5 0: sweet

Well, back to square one. My parents just informed me that both the Jetta and the Golf were sold. I emailed a bunch of VW dealerships around NJ and asked if they have such a vehicle in stock. Still no reply. To be continued...

I was thinking about school again and I was excited. I'm actually looking forward to studying again, mostly because I want to learn more about computers and the classes I'm taking are pretty cool. I plan on taking 4 classes next semester plus one P.E. I remembered three of them and the gym class: WWW Programming I, Computer Graphics, Operating Systems, and Tumbling (gymnastics). But I couldn't remember the other one. Then, it hit me and a cold fear came over me. I also have to take Stat 126 next fall, and I'm not looking forward to it. ... Stat is probably the most boring class ever! And everyone who has taken it so far say it's pretty hard too. Anyways, next semester will suck just b/c of that stupid class. I wish statistics were never invented!

Still haven't purchased a car yet. But i think I'll most likely get that Jetta I was looking at. If so, my parents are going to have to do all the business for me since, well, I'm stuck here in Germany. I get back home August 3rd and i have exactly 11 days to learn how to drive stick. (no one up north drives a stick) Then I have to get all the way down to UNC from New Jersey by myself. I don't think it will be much of a problem. I've driven manuals before, but i'm not very good. I stall a lot, but i think a little practice is all i need. i'm not quite sure how long it will take to learn but i'm hoping 11 days is enough for it to be natural. Well, if you don't see me in Chapel Hill in the fall, you'll know why.

I need money...what else is new? But seriously, there are so many things I want to buy right now. I want to go on a vacation with Jenny, although this is already quite a vacation, I want a car, new computer...among other things. I heard about some kid in Europe who started a website where people could donate money in his quest at becoming a millionaire. If everyone in Europe gives him €1 he'll be rich. I think he has about €250 by now, but mostly from friends and family. Not bad though. hrmmmm...

My whole body is sore from working out at "Future Sports" fitness club these past few days. Since break dancing school is only on fridays, I needed something else to stay active. We checked out a few different gyms and finally chose this one, which also happened to be one of the most expensive. But it's worth it. Their facilities put the SRC to shame, complete with sauna, hot tub, and sun tanning studio (not like i'm into any of that stuff). I like it because they have a really nice dance studio where I can practice breakin'. They have aerobic classes in there about 3 or 4 hours a day so I just go whenever the room is free. The floor is smooth and the room has mirrors, but I can't listen to music there which kinda sux. People always stare at me like I'm crazy when I'm practicing. Mostly just old people though. I think it really makes a difference when you actually pay for working out. I feel like I have this obligation to go every single day just to get my money's worth. I know we pay at UNC too, but it's included in tuition so it doesn't feel expensive. Well, maybe I should work on something...later.

back in deutchland. brazil won the world cup, hahahaha. all the germans were sobbing, and rioting the streets.

flying back to germany in a few hours. being home is fun for about a week, then it gets boring. I'm glad I'm going back. If i stay in Highlad Park for too long I get stuck. and when i'm home i'm so damn lazy.

In other news, I almost purchased a car on monday. I've been looking around for a while. I came across a Volkswagon dealership on 27 which was selling a '98 Golf and a '98 Jetta, both 5 speeds, for around 8,000. Not bad. After test driving them I liked the Jetta a little more. But the salesman wouldn't come down in price, although earlier he had said he'd go down by 1,000 dollars. I hate how used car salespeople are so dishonest. If they didn't give me any B.S. I'd probably just buy it at the listed price, but if they start blatently lying, I get upset. So, we walked out... and the guy called me again this morning asking if we had reconsidered. I'll buy it if he goes down to 7,500. It's a sweet car.

germany just kicked Korea out. it's really sad. although germany did play well, it especially pisses me off b/c they also kicked the US team out. and now, i'm going to get a lot of shit when i go back there. GO BRAZIL!!

i saw minority report yesterday. i thought it was well done. it's definately worth seeing if you get the chance. the spider scene is pretty cool.

did anyone catch the Korea vs. Italy game? it was unbelievable. i only saw the extra time but korea is actually really good. and no one expected it. it's weird though b/c here in america no one really cares much for the world cup. but over in europe, asia and probably the rest of the world everybody is crazy. sportscenter came on right after the game and the first thing they showed were baseball highlights. figures.

I'm back home now. Just got off an 8+ hour flight from Frankfurt to Newark. They showed "Crossroads." I watched 10 minutes of it, then switched to "I am Sam," which was pretty good. Anyways, I'm home for 10 days then back to Germany.

This site is taking much longer to complete than I expected. I don't have as much time as I would like to devote to it. I hope I can finish before school starts but that is unlikely.

I guess this is the unofficial launching of the site. Exciting huh? About half of the links on the side work. I'll try to finish the rest soon.