Real life open thread
This is off-topic, but so be it. We only need to do this once!
Grokmoo and I graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park today. I graduated with a BS in Computer Science and a minor in Astronomy, while Grokmoo graduated with BSs in Physics, Math, and Astronomy (freaking overachiever). Needless to say, we’ve put a lot of work towards these degrees and we’re very glad that it has all finally paid off.
I’m heading off on a week-long vacation tomorrow to California with my family. Do not expect me to be updating this blog too often while I am away. But when I do eventually return, I will finally have all the free time in the world to play Supreme Commander, and even better, the patch will be released by then!
Update: While I am away Grokmoo will be handling my regular duties as Chief Editor, so all of the regular writers should contact him when they have a final draft ready to be promoted to the main page. You can reach Grokmoo at jstephen AT umd DOT edu.
May 21st, 2007 at 1:12 pm
Congratulations! Have fun on your vacation
May 21st, 2007 at 1:20 pm
I’m poking around in rural Missouri, working full time and slowly getting my Associates of Arts from a community college, from where I plan to transfer to Missouri State University. I too will likely be pursuing a BS in Computer Science. I play a good deal of PC FPS and RTS. I like movies, especially good ones; the most recent excellent films I’ve seen are Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown, and Network. I’m planning on finally buying an HDTV soon, a 37″ LCD. I’m a big fan of the English language, and have recently discovered that I may enjoy writing. I enjoy playing guitar, drums, and what some refer to as “chord piano.” I’m also a PC recording hobbyist.
As for Supreme Commander, I play mostly 1v1 Ranked matches, and am far from excellent. I bought the game at release, but have only played 28 1v1 Ranked matches, half of which I’ve won (early on I, like many, was plagued by connection issues which polluted by rank with several losses). I usually manage to hold a rank around 4000, which I can accept, since I’m above a lot more people than I’m below :-). I’ve probably watched more replays than played matches. I like shorter games on smaller maps, because I have trouble keeping up with the economy once fab farms and RAS upgrades make mexes obsolete. Also, I’m an aggressive player (something I learned from FPS’s), and don’t like turtling or dealing with turtles.
May 21st, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Congrats. I just graduated two weekends ago with a BS in CS and minor in math at Virigina Tech. At least you’re getting a vacation. As soon as I got home my dad told me to get a job (though I took the week off on my own anyway). I need to get something random so I can get some money in the bank whilst I look for a real job. I was on IRC last night talking to a couple CS grads who were complaining about their lack of job prospects, so that’s cool. And by cool I mean not cool.
May 21st, 2007 at 2:41 pm
Lack of job prospects is one reason why I’m not a CS major anymore. “Everybody is going into CS and ITAM, so the market’s going to be filled with people. Damn.”
May 21st, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Congrats to you grads! Last month I finished the second year at the University of Michigan. I’m majoring in Electrical Engineering and minoring in French.
I’m staying in Ann Arbor over the Summer to work in the electrinic shop on campus. Since most of my friends from school are gone and I have to drive an hour to Toledo to see my friends from home I have plenty of time for SupCom and other less productive activities.
My two projects for the summer are building an MP3 player from scratch and converting my old computer into a ‘mythTV’ media center. And I guess you could say my secret third project is to jump over the hurdle and maintain a spot in the top 100 in SupCom.
May 21st, 2007 at 3:55 pm
I am 20 years old and own a (very) small business in michigan. I regret dropping out of highschool but it has yet to effect me in any way. I planned to complete my diploma and go into computer science until I read the above posts ; ). My interests have always been physics, chemistry and literature. And I may go to college for one of those if I can just stop playing computer games!
In the past I did all kinds of chemistry experiments but can no longer do so b/c of all the new laws since 9/11, which is why my interest has temporarily turned to computers.
Running a business is cool, but having to deal with customers isn’t. I don’t know how well I will react if I ever get a normal job and have to listen to a boss.
May 21st, 2007 at 4:01 pm
I just graduated high school and am going to go a state school
May 21st, 2007 at 5:04 pm
The details of my life are quite inconsequential…. Very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low-grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a 15-year-old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize; he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes, he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament… My childhood was typical: summers in Rangoon… luge lessons… In the spring, we’d make meat helmets… When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds — pretty standard, really. At the age of 12, I received my first scribe. At the age of 14, a Zoroastrian named Wilma ritualistically shaved my testicles — there really is nothing like a shorn scrotum — it’s quite breathtaking… I suggest you try it.
May 21st, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Thank you for sharing Molloy.
May 21st, 2007 at 6:10 pm
I’m 25, I live in San Francisco and work in the silicon valley as a software engineer. I left France (my home country) in 2005 to do an internship in the bay area and decided to stay (I spent 7 months in London, UK while I was waiting for a visa).
The 1st RTS I ever played was warcraft, didn’t like it too much. Then I played TA and loved it. After that I tried Starcraft but I didn’t play for long. I gave up the genre until the release of Supcom. I don’t have much time to play but when I do, I mainly play custom 2vs2 on small maps or custom 1vs1 on even smaller maps.
May 21st, 2007 at 6:27 pm
Heh all the CS people graduating makes me feel old :)
I’m a software engineer/fixer type working for an Irish multinational (one of the very very few :). Generally I’m called in to work on large scale conversion projects but I’ve also covered everything from server recovery to book publishing (even got my own guillotine for that one).
I played TA to death but I’m enjoying SupCom a lot more since I now have an interwebnet connection fast enough to let me play online. RTS have been a long time favorites of mine and I’ve been suckered into buying everything westwood, blizzard and cavedog produced :). Also a big fan of RPGs (currently working my way through Lunar Knights for the DS).
May 21st, 2007 at 6:52 pm
I run an electrical company called “Core Electrical”, only 6 employees atm, and part owner of a computer repair shop “Core Computers”, more a sleeping partner as i’m totally hands off. No smart remarks Blitz Molloy! Anyone notice where the names come from?. I learnt to fly last year and love it. Texas alt-country music rules too.
May 21st, 2007 at 6:52 pm
I hope that you didn’t quote all of that from memory…
May 21st, 2007 at 8:10 pm
Screw real life, patch is out.
May 21st, 2007 at 8:28 pm
I agree with Wuped.
PATCH IS OUT!!11!!11!
Too bad the computer I’m playing on couldn’t even play a supcom demo. :P
May 21st, 2007 at 10:02 pm
wow you guys are local, that’s cool.
alum here, class of 02 =)
how grok triple majored AND played SupCom I’ll never know…
May 22nd, 2007 at 8:58 am
It wasn’t easy, bob. But SupCom is far too important to let something silly like graduating get in the way…