The most satisfying thing was to walk out of my Math final and exclaim "I am done with all my damn finals!" It was a feeling different from every other semester, probably because the number of semesters left can be counted on one finger. I took advantage of the lapse in time to do some major work on the Xoops system for Kaizoku-Fansubs. All I need now is someone with artistic talent to help make pretty pictures of pirates that shall then be converted into yummy CSS for layouts. As the site gets closer to completiion, I will probably post some links to get some feedback. Once K-F hits episode 79, they are taking a break, which will give me more time to update and transfer things. The more I use Xoops, the more I appreciate it's simplicity. While not as robust as something like PHP-Nuke, it is powerful enough for a small scale site that does more than just news. One really nice thing about the Xoops API is the ease of including the basic Xoops template. The template itself consists of three files in the wrapper, and then 1 stylesheet for the theme specific colors and images. What this means is, existing pages for the older K-F site can be modified for Xoops very easily. From there, adding on links, navigation, and things like that are very easy. For basic portal needs (plus more than just a message board) Xoops comes highly reccomended.
I went to see Return of the King tonight, something I am sure everyone has seen at least once by now, unless you are waiting until the weekend or don't really care for the series. I ended up crying through most of the ending, much like I did back in 5th grade when I read the books. It's a mix of emotions plus the knowledge that the journey through the trilogy has come to a close. The trilogy was more than I could have ever hoped for it to be, and was simply stunning to witness and be a part of. It will be like Star Wars for our children, only we will be the ones saying "I remember when the Lord of the Rings trilogy came out in theaters, and we were all fangirly over the dripping hot Orlando Bloom..." Won't that be scary?
This Saturday is the BAAS Christmas party, which should be interesting. Since nobody can go / emailed me back, I have opted to pack all my crap into my car that I will need for break, drive my butt over to El Sobrante for the party (after the ASAP gig at Baja Cantina), and then since I am so close to home, just finish the drive and plant my ass in Sacramento late on the 20th. My first task when back in Roseville is to call Chris J. though since I didn't get to hang out with him at all during the previous break. With graduation on the horizon, I am sure things are just going to get more and more insane. Thankfully, before the insanity hits full force, there is Macworld (Jan 5, 6, 7, or when we decide to go), Disneyland (Jan 11-14), and a lot of video games (Dec, Jan, every free moment). My current addiction is Links, which takes me back to my days of PC golf. I used to get so pissed off at my approach shots on the computer, and now I can get pissed at my XBox. God, I love the game and all it's mental anguish. On the plus side, I have gotten really good at putts up to 30 feet, so when it comes time to match wits with the Roseville crowd again, I think I might be able to hold my own pretty well. I still can't land decent approach shots though.
Finally, I have switched to Zempt for my Movable Type blogging needs. It is cross-platform, it is fast, it has a spell-checker, it even has all the basic formatting I could ever want. Absolutely amazing. It also supports multiple blogs, categories, and all the stuff you have come to love about Movable Type. I am curious though if it will take advantage of TrackBack auto-discovery though. If anyone knows, please give me a heads up, as I haven't had a chance to test it yet.
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