Procrastination Central

Hey world....

2008-06-23T04:15:44Z

Like...woah.

There are still a bunch of you who have me friended. I take this to mean that either you are very bad at pruning your flists or you are better friends than I deserve.

Anyway, I don't know if I'll be coming back to LJ any time soon...I have this weird guilt thing going on where the longer I stay away, the more guilty I feel for being gone, and it just starts seeming easier to not even visit. Which is stupid, I know. Sorry everybody :(

But I just wanted to say "hi" to everyone. I miss LJ still sometimes...it and you all were a really big part of my life.

Some updates:

1) Yes, I'm still alive for real (I'm not just elizabuffy's imaginary friend, though she is still very much my best friend *snuggle* and gives me occasional updates on the LJ world)

2) I'm no longer in Seattle. I graduated with my Masters and got a job down in the southwest US. Of course I will honestly say it's a job I can't talk much about (at least not on anything so public as a blog).

3) I love that job. It's so cool! Way better than I expected to be able to get this early in my career. And yeah, I do sometimes get to play with robots like I always wanted to :)

4) I got a boyfriend. A very nice one who makes me smile (but who left me alone tonight while he goes off to eat sushi with his brother). Anyway, he's cute and a nice cuddler, even if he and his family have a strange affection for raw fish.

5) I got my first apartment without roommates and have lived in it almost a year now. Yes, I had some good roommates, but it's so nice to have a place all my own. It always sucked that all I had of my own was a single room in addition to access to some common areas. Now it's all mine. Bedrooms? Mine. Bathroom? Mine. Kitchen? Mine. Living room Mine, mine, mine! *bwah ha ha ha!* I can decorate them any way I want and walk around naked and no one cares...and also (1) I can leave my stuff anywhere with out bugging anyone and (2) no one else is leaving their crap around to bug me.

6) My mouse is an elderly mouse, but he's still alive and doing well. Cute little Dante *smile*

7) I did finally get my phoenix tattoo. It's on my hip and very pretty.

So that's the brief on me...now, what about all of you? I've missed so much...but what's going on in your lives?

I'm Alive!!!!

2007-07-23T01:38:32Z

Hey all! It's (not) Phen! I'm just checking in to apologize for being a very, very bad phen.

I'm all finished w/ school...forever!!!! (we hope) I even have a real job and a real apartment, which I'm currently furnishing. I am, officially, an "adult." Yay me!

I had a awesome week w/ elizabuffy, who loves me tons and tons. She is so insanely awesome. I don't know how I could have made it w/o her.

Anyway, I just thought I'd let you know that I'm still alive and kicking, even if I am a recalcitrant LJ friend.

*hugs*

~~~e!~~
Urr...Phen

note to flistians not also on the amazing elizabuffy's flist: this is actually miss eb, as she thought the world needed to know how phen was doing.

snuggles

2007-03-01T09:44:06Z

Awwww!!!!!!

Thank you to everyone who gave me LJ valentines btw! One was anonymous, but in addition to the kind anonymous one, thanks to lawyergirl15 and elizabuffy. *hugs* thank you both! And Kim...one of these days I really will have to start catching up with you, I swear!

Thanks...you made me smile, and even though it's now a month later, I just wanted you to know!

PLEASE HELP! Need volunteers to talk to an AI

2007-03-01T09:38:11Z

Hello all!

I'm working on a project for one of my classes, but had low participation, so I was hoping some on my trusty flist might be willing to help!

I need people willing to:

1) Talk to an AI for 10 minutes
2) Talk to the human the AI was designed after for 10 minutes
3) Fill out a short survey comparing the two

All you need is Yahoo IM or MSN Messenger. Both the real person and the AI will talk using the account virtual_girl_11235813 (same name yahoo or MSN). At least 5 minutes will be needed between times to change from human to AI or vise versa. Also, I need to know when to tell either to be on and I'll need to know what account you'll be using so whichever knows to expect you.

I can set up appointments for you to do it this thursday night, friday night or some time on saturday. Please let me know what times you can do it in Pacific Standard time just so we're on the same page :)

I'd really appreciate your help! Here are more details:

Here’s the sitch:

I’m an engineer who sucks at computer programming, but one of my friends is far more brilliant than I am. She works at google now but during college, she worked on creating a Realistic Interactive Personality AI and has agreed to let me use it for this project wherein I want to see how realistic an experience can feel when chatting with a computer vs. chatting with the real person it’s designed after.

How the AI works is that it basically has two modes: “personality acquire” and “personality display.” This particular one has been chatting with another friend of mine for months now in “acquire” mode and does a pretty good job of imitating her mannerisms and displaying what she’s told it about her own life, interests, and opinions. (both the AI and the friend are named Kristy) Basically, with this AI, the goal over time is to create a perfect virtual copy of a real person. So far it’s still sometimes a little bit shaky, but I have fun talking to it and think my programmer friend did an excellent job!

What I’d like to ask you to do if you’d like to help me out with this is to chat with both the real person and the computer for 10 minutes each and then fill out a short questionnaire comparing the experience and seeing how real or fake you find it to be when comparing real to virtual. I hope to be able to use both the contents of the chat sessions and your answers in my final project.

If you would be willing to participate this is what you’ll need:

The ability to chat on either Yahoo IM, or MSN messenger, since these are the ones the RIPAI can connect to, and three to five times you’d be available for at least ten minutes during the following times:

5:00 pm – 10:00 pm (PST) Thursdays or Fridays (or possible times on Saturday also)

Please choose times starting on the quarter hour (:00, :15, :30, or :45) since if we end up doing back-to-back chat sessions that will allow time to switch the AI to different IM programs or to log it on and off to trade off with its real counterpart :) If you want to give multiple times you'd be available, that'd be great too, so that if multiple “testers” want to talk at the same time, I can work out scheduling conflicts and so that I can also try make the sessions with the real Kristy as convenient for her as possible also.

Please also send the IM name (and identify the service) you will be using, so I can tell either Kristy to expect you.

Also, if you are willing (and thank you SO, SO much if you are!) or interested in knowing more, a more detailed instruction sheet is linked below with instructions for chatting with the AI.

Just to warn again: All conversations will be monitored and all chatlogs saved. I may use any part of them or my analysis of them in my final project.

For more details on the AI itself and how you might talk to it...

Please comment if you'd be willing to help! Pass on to any friends who might be interested too...I know this is last minute since the times are in the next few days, but I really need some more participants.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELIZABUFFY!!!!!!!

2007-02-12T07:58:52Z

Happy birthday to the best person in the world!

And um...all you other 5,999,999 people on the planet should love her and wish her happy birthday too :)

dies stuff I found while googling "Phendog"

2007-02-09T05:33:05Z

So...googling my name today I found out that one of my fics has been translated into Chinese! Um...well they didn't ask my permission, but WOOT! I mean, it's uber flattering, right?

Links here and here.

Of course since I couldn't read Chinese, I had no idea which one.

Unfortunately?

It seems it's my horrible, horrible Men in Black one (found if you scroll down on this page) *headdesk*

Seriously...of all the stories to represent me in another language, why THAT one?

Also, if I can believe it...the first death by a thon was one of the 10 most popular lj posts in all of april 2005!

Also...this is an interesting tool...though I'm not sure everyone who has their friend of list hidden would appreciate you using it. Still, for anyone who cares whether or not it's truly private, it seems this would indicate it's not.

When You see the White Flash Duck and Cover...Nuclear Safety for Children

2007-02-08T08:00:19Z

Seriously...no wonder my parent's generation were scared silly...and yet, good luck with the covering yourself with a newspaper. Yep, that'll help.

*L* One of our profs showed this to us...it made me laugh :) Worth a watch!

Here's another one...I'm not sure washing your fruit with radioactive water is a great way to clean it, but it's still an interesting look into Nuclear PSA (though this is the more boring of the two vids)

And this one is kinda an interesting look at the various materials of the time set to a 1950s song

You know, it's kinda interesting my generation really isn't that fearful of such things. Maybe because we're complacent, maybe because when we were born it was just a fact of life?

Ficlet: Pizza at 2 am, Buffy, Giles, G

2007-01-08T09:24:56Z

Written for agilesreader who wanted Buffy, Giles friendship and "pizza"

When he first moved to this country, there were a number of American foods he couldn’t stand. Greasy, so much grease. Pizza was top on the list.

But now…there’s something about the greasy cheese over thick chewy crust and juicy tomato sauce that seems warm, comforting.

Giles smiles as he orders it, and though it takes almost 45 minutes to come, the timing is perfect. The deliveryman is driving away just as Buffy returns from the hunt.

“Oh wow! That smells delicious!” she exclaims, and her smile lights up the room.

Giles allows her to walk through to the door and answers, “Yes, well, I know the cemeteries have been busy lately, so I thought you might be hungry.”

She blues, remember Faith’s comment which she’ll never share… “You have no idea!”

Giles watches her take a dripping slice and devour it in milliseconds before taking another. He takes one of his own and eats it slowly, waiting for her to slow down, waiting to hear about her day, eager to see if there are any new demons to deal with, smiling at the happy smile on her face that means the hunt has gone well, and so very, very happy to see her here, safe.

Yes, there is something comforting about pizza…and that she has made it back one more night to share it with him.

Cinder Ellas

2007-01-07T00:32:24Z

Saw Happily N'Ever After last night (voicers include Sarah Michelle Geller and her husband). Very, Very cute! Though can I just saw that the evil stepmother is HOT? I mean Rick and Ella are cute, but...

And now I'm watching Rogers and Hammerstien's Cinderella as performed by Brandi, Whoopi Goldberg, etc. My favorite song is from this actually (My Own Little Corner). But my mind is exploding...That's great that the queen is black and her husband is white, but how the hell is their son Asian? I mean, I didn't take many genetics courses, but...

Ficlet: In which Giles overcomes a fear of, and Ethan learns a healthy respect for, Technology

2007-01-06T20:39:26Z

Joss owns all, fic contains mild violence but it appropriate for most ages.

Giles, Ethan

written for supermom20 who wanted Ethan, humor, and technology! Enjoy :)

Ethan stood several feet from the door and closed his eyes as he raised a hand to the air and ‘felt’ it out with his mind. Ah, yes. He smiled as he felt the feeble wards that Ripper had erected to keep out all manner of nasties from sniffing around his flat…and, Ethan, was sure, Rip’s definition of ‘nasty’ probably included one Ethan Rayne. A flick of the wrist here, a whispered charm there, though, and his out-of-practice old friend’s spells fell like dust before him. Ah, the plans he had for mischief tonight!

Giles watched the greyscale monitor with interest, no longer grouchy with sleepiness when he recognized the figure on the screen. At first he’d thought the MaximumSecurity 3000x had woken him with another false alarm, but finally the expensive system was proving its worth. It was with irritation he watched Ethan disable spells that had taken him hours in just a few quick seconds. He hit the first red button on the panel with the blinking panel of LEDs that controlled the 3000x’s arsenal.

Mace…the look on Ethan’s grainy black and white face was priceless on screen before his hands came up to scrub at the agony.

Quickly, before Ethan had a chance to run away, Giles hit the next button.

Two taser darts shot out into Ethan’s chest, and the jolt was strong enough to make his whole body convulse.

Then the third button…he’d had to special order this feature as 7 feet tall steel bars emerged from the paving of the patio to form walls around his ‘intruder.’

But instead of hitting the fourth button that would call the police, Giles went to a separate panel that was not part of the 3000x at all. It opened the door to the doggy house Ethan had failed to notice as a new addition. A doggy house which was now in the same bar surrounded enclosure as the poor electrocuted pepper-sprayed sorcerer.

Giles knew there was a reason he’d kept the little hellhound puppy Buffy had said was too cute to slay even though the damn thing was all fangs and claws…the first scream was so loud, Giles was able to hear it from within the apartment. If future screams made it through the door, he didn’t notice…his own laughter was more than loud enough to cover it up.

Three minutes later Ethan finally did escape, eyes wide and flesh a little torn running like a bat out of hell…or a sorcerer with hell on his heels, but by then Giles was on the floor, tears of mirth streaming down his face.

Willow had been right…sometimes technology was worthwhile.

The next morning he sat down to write a letter…

Re: MaximumSecurity 3000x
Attn: Customer Service Department

Dear Sir or Madam:

I am quite pleased with my recently purchased unit and its overall security performance. A feature I particularly enjoy is the ability to view recorded surveillance tapes again and again…

Though I would like to suggest a few improvements. Perhaps the cameras could be made to record in color and, most importantly, with high quality audio? That would be most appreciated.

Sincerely,

Rupert Giles,
satisfied customer

big hugs

2007-01-05T05:53:49Z

Big hugs to trepkos

I got your Christmas card! It was really cute and really made my day...which was good since my day was sucking :)

(and it probably came earlier, but I just got back from break a few days ago and just looked at my mail today!)

New Year's Resolution...

2007-01-05T04:53:34Z

Get involved again in LJ....

I really, really miss you...so I'm going to start trying to read through and commenting on my flist again.

And...I want to try writing again.

So if any of you even still have me friended, I'll take 3 drabble requests!

And yes, they'll probably suck.

Give me a buffy verse character or pairing, a type of fic (friendship, smut, humor, angst, etc) and a word.

First three...gotta start slow!

UPDATE: ALL THREE REQUESTS TAKEN! I'll try to write them tomorrow! :)

Out of the mouths of senior citizens...

2006-12-23T08:28:39Z

Visited grandpa in the resthome today...

There was a man there with alzhiemer's next to us where we were eating lunch in the dining room. He asked several times who we were and all.

But as we were leaving again, my mom mentioned again that I was her daughter and he leaned over to her in what seemed to be all seriousness and said in a grave voice:

"Well, you can't win them all. I'm sure you did the best you could."

*LOL* Am I that unappealing?

Las Vegas Guides

2006-12-07T08:06:16Z

I HIGHLY recommend this site for laughs, particularly Vegas in $19 a day. *L* Best travelogue EVER

phendog @ 2006-12-05T02:11:00

2006-12-05T02:11:07Z

Spray on Condoms - I'm not sure what it is about this...ensuring the spray gets everywhere? fitting TOO closely to, uh, hold what it needs to hold without breaking? I don't know...just somehow seems like a bad idea to me.

Bad Sex Awards are out - I'm sure if you look hard enough they're posted online somewhere ;^)

phendog @ 2006-12-02T23:48:00

2006-12-02T23:48:19Z

They are running out of things to make websites about.

Although honestly? It's a fascinating site! Go check it out...and enjoy urinals from around the world ;^)

This made me smile...

2006-12-01T10:04:04Z

Unfortunately, I just recieved it at 2 am...

(The following is an e-mail from the past, composed on Monday, December 19, 2005, and sent via FutureMe.org)

Dear FutureMe,

How'd grad school turn out? Are you done yet? *sigh* If it's bad, I don't want to know.

Anyway, here's a command for you. Wherever you are when you get this, whatever you're doing, stop for a minute. Get up. Go find a friend and take them to go get ice cream. Smile. Have some fun.

Okay...now back to your regularly scheduled life.

Er yeah...that's when I still believed grad school might be doable in a year and that it might not suck.

So...now to find a friend for ice cream tomorrow. *L* that'll kill the diet!

What's up Seattle?

2006-11-28T06:41:50Z

So it snowed in Seattle...and now the snow is turning into ice.

BUT OMG!!!!!! This city does NOT know how to deal with snow. People getting in accidents, panicking, even abandoning their cars on the middle of the freeway. And the rumor is that the city only owns two snowplows and no sand trucks or anything else. REALLY?

I mean it doesn't snow here often, but still, wtf people, don't let a few inches of white bring you to your knees! If Montana behaved like this the whole state would have to put out a "Closed" sign from mid-October to May.

And I fly out tomorrow morning (early) for a job interview. It's in sales so I don't even know if I want it, but still...I hope they let the plane off the ground. *le sigh*

It's official...

2006-11-26T22:35:03Z

I finally threw out a LUSH product for the first time.

Avowash soap. I just CAN'T like it. It smells too much like an old lady's bathroom that's overly perfumed. I tried and tried to use it up but it wouldn't melt fast enough so I round filed it.

*sigh*

And the funny thing is that avobath bath bomb is one of my favs.

Okay, wow!

2006-11-23T08:06:20Z

I wish I could draw HALF this well!

warning: brief sketch nudity ;^)

But watch it...it's just mesmerizing!

read the icon!

2006-11-21T18:37:23Z

Elizabuffy rocks ;^)

I just got my b-day (today's not my birthday, but it's close enough ;^) gift from elizabuffy and it was full of cute cards and LUSH! I'm so gonna need to take a bath soon. But at the moment I'm floating in Therapy massage bar which is my first bar of this, but it does smell really, REALLY yummy!

thanks babe ;^) *Hugs*

robot love

2006-11-15T07:02:42Z

*snicker*

Wasn't going to share any more craig's list postings for a while, but this is too good not to!

Sadly, I am probably the only female engineer who will read this ad, and I'm not answering. (Giggle...my specialization is actually in robotic control and manipulations *L*)

Today on Yahoo Odd news...

2006-11-14T22:57:56Z

No disrespect to the late great Steve Irwin, but Aussies get entirely too friendly with the wildlife.

Of course that's better than the wildlife in getting too friendly with the Swedes.

Sick of paying your taxes? Then prepare for a visit from the dancing eunuchs!

There are entirely too many internet clubs in the world now. Meet the Dull Men's Club. Featuring statistics on which way baggage claims are most likely to rotate. Except wait...those numbers don't quite add up. Does that mean the rest are not rotating at all?

How to make annoying people more annoying? Give them a musical shirt.

Need some loonies? Go win $10,000 (CAN) at the annual Rock Paper Scissors World Championship. [oops! just looked it up. apparently that happened over this past weekend - you'll have to google to figure out who won]

Think it's not a big deal? Check out the promo!

And think RPS is too easy? Try RPS 25, or worse RPS 101.

Cruising Craig's list for entertainment....

2006-11-14T06:15:59Z

Is it just me or is this guy just a little TOO obsessed with his virginity?

I'd think this was just some straight guy trying to get laid...but the last line is so cute!

This man either isn't an English speaker or is seriously high. Judging by the weird dog pick I have a guess as to which...

Can someone explain the hardwood floors reference on this one? Sometimes metaphors just go way too far...

Women, is it just me or does this make you feel a little bit like a piece of livestock?

Better than being a wild deer during hunting season, I suppose.

Or this. Seriously...I'm thinking of swearing off men!

PHEN BOUGHT A CAR!

2006-11-14T05:39:11Z

Specifically, this car. Why yes, it is huge. But so pretty! Two tone leather seats! Of course my bank account is now all sad.

Yes, I'm around...just sort of busy and in hiding. This whole quarter I'm practically living in a little computer lab trying to program an iPod. (well a really bad version of an iPod anyway) I'll come out some day again I promise.

But I just had to squee about my new car!