rit

RIT Big Shot 37 and Others

~ randyaa ~ Leave a comment

It’s been a minute. We missed you!
Last weekend we got to participate in RIT Big Shot 37

While reviewing the older Big Shots I realized we’ve actually been to quite a few!

https://www.rit.edu/bigshot/projects/old-fort-niagara-youngstown-ny

https://www.rit.edu/bigshot/projects/kodak-tower-rochester-ny

https://www.rit.edu/bigshot/projects/high-falls-rochester-ny

https://www.rit.edu/bigshot/projects/seabreeze-amusement-park-rochester-ny

https://www.rit.edu/bigshot/projects/strong-national-museum-play-rochester-ny

https://www.rit.edu/bigshot/projects/erie-canal-and-schoen-place-pittsford-ny

RIT Big Shot 25

~ randyaa ~ 3 Comments

BigShot25Today was RIT’s 25th Big Shot, of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C..  I loved being a part of it last year, but this year I’m glad I skipped the trip to DC.  To be honest, I’m not really a fan of this one.  Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing I see technically wrong with the photo.  It just seems like an uninteresting subject to me.

I loved last years though, which was the first one I participated in, and many of the other Big Shots.

Under 40

~ randyaa ~ 2 Comments

Rachel and I ran our first race today. We participated in the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge, a 3.5 mile corporate team race around the RIT campus.

I’ve been to the Corporate Challenge but this is the first time I’ve participated. Last year I was just a cook/photographer.

This year Rachel and I decided to run and so we’ve been “training” for the past month or so.

We completed the race, running the entire distance and we both posted times under 40 minutes (Randy – 39:42 & Rachel – 39:52). Pretty darn good for our first time!

From what I heard there were almost 3k less participants this year but there was still almost 10,000 runners! That’s a lot of feet… To give you an idea, check out the video from the starting line last year:

Next year’s goal? 30 minutes, 9 minute miles. Wish us luck!

Professor Quotes

~ randyaa ~ Leave a comment

I kept track of funny things my professors would say all throughout college but never shared. Unfortunately the various locations at which I kept them have been lost to time. The most recent list I could find was from 9/5/2002 from an archive of an old website I used to maintain (http://randy.instantws.com). The wayback machine has some very interesting stuff if you’re interested…

DISCLAIMER: Nothing has been added or made up. Names have not been changed. Screw the innocent.

Don’t Be A Twit (to Alonso)
~Beltz

When we make our groups, I want to try mix the dumb people with the smart people.
~Dr. Vegso

I guess size does matter…<looks down>…in more ways than one.
~Szewczak

i dont know how you can have a fraudulant noble trade
~Lutz

you don’t have to tell me the president of the company is higher than the bathroom attendant of the company. I know that.
~d.s. hart

now lets say we have a force tugging on a spring. ok that force is you. Well just say the whole force is F you.
~Anderson

Professor Lutz… what diet program are you on?
~Vallino

Practice safe Construction
~Lutz

Don’t pervert when you convert
~Czernikowski

Czernikowski: what’s your name sir?
Student: John
Czernikowski: Siker??????
Student: John!

I call it my tickle file…
~Rechylmier

You can’t go from 0-60 in 3 days
~Poularious

Dr Heliotis has provided a peta file for you to use…
what?… ok, this peta file… oh geez…
~Adams

I have 2P in two places.
~Poularious

Let me just give you a quickie here…
~Reek

Friends let each other touch their private parts
~Adams

Its a little early for beer…Down it quickly!
~Poularious

Don’t goto Dicks.com. Its not the clothing store!
~Reek

I am not paranoid its just that all these people are against me!
~Poularious

Let me go psychedelic here
~Poularious

Does anyone have Redi-Whip in a can? For those romantic moments?
~Richmond

I remember my college days, fondling…
~Richmond

you can go to other countries where the penetration is less
~Adams

I FULLY expect problems
~Kern

I Don’t know how to teach this class
~Etlinger

You only get a few words, like… you know… whatever they said in telegrams.
~Gregorio

RIT Big Shot 24

~ randyaa ~ 2 Comments

RIT has been doing what they call the Big Shot every year since 1987. They pick a point of interest and take a long exposure photograph using only flashlights and electronic flashes for illumination. This years Big Shot was located in Pittsford NY at Schoen Place to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal.

The Erie Canal was originally proposed in 1808…On July 4, 1817, Governor Dewitt Clinton broke ground for the construction of the canal…it was often sarcastically referred to as ‘Clinton’s Big Ditch’

Rachel and I heard about this a while ago and decided to go. It was fun. I was impressed to come home and see the photograph already online so for your viewing pleasure it is included below.

If you’re interested in seeing past Big Shots check them out here.

Keep it Simple Stupid

~ randyaa ~ 1 Comment

Keep it Simple Stupid (or what’s commonly know as the KISS principle) is something I picked up in my Software Engineering classes during my tour of duty at RIT. It is something I try to carry over into my every day life. That being said I’d like to share a few simple ideas I try to utilize to simplify my digital life.

Your Blog

For those of you reading this directly from the website you should have already noticed a complete redesign. This is only part of my new Zen overhaul. I have taken several points from Skellie‘s post 50 Tips to Unclutter Your Blog. If you’re interested in exactly what I did please check out the article. You may find some additional tips which I haven’t yet implemented as well.

Your Wallpaper
My Simple Wallpaper
A recent simplification I have made is my wallpaper. I was a fan of scenery wallpaper, most often shots that I took were my favorites, but I recently decided that this just adds to clutter. Photographic backgrounds can hide icons and can be a distraction. I created this simple background which provides a central focal point for any icons you wish to display on the desktop. I’ve provided several sizes so feel free to download it if you’d like to try it out.

Your Feeds

Chances are, if you’re like me, you subscribe to a lot of feeds. You probably also generate a lot of content on the Internet and therefor a lot of feeds (whether you realize it or not). If that’s the case why not manage both in the same place? I use Google Reader extensively and this is one of the biggest reasons why. Essentially I maintain two feeds: My Shared Items and My Content. Both are exactly what they sound like. My Shared Items is a feed in which articles, Videos, pictures and anything else i want to share will appear. I do this by utilizing Google Reader’s Shared Items feature. My Content is another feed in which any content that I produce will appear. For example, Any post on this blog, My posts on Randy and Rachel, My Comic Strips and my Youtube videos.

Your Archives

Lets face it, in this digital age chances are you have a lot of digital stuff. Stuff you want to keep. For most people this might just mean photos. For some it means photos, videos, music, software and more. To store all this and keep it organized you need a system. I have dual 250Gb SATA drives in a Raid 1 array which i use strictly for storage. On the root of this array I have the following directories:

  • Files
  • Music
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Software

Everything I need to store fits somewhere in these 5 categories. Music and Videos are broken down by genre. Files and Software are broken down by category. Photos is broken down by date. This is probably where I’m the most organized. My Photos directory contains photos dating back to the 1950s all the way up to the present. To do this I created decade directories (1950s, 1960s etc) and within that year directories(1951, 1952 etc). Finally within the years directory I list the actual albums which also have a naming convention (MM – DD – name). Because of the shear amount of photographs I store I needed a system and this has greatly simplified things for me.

KISS

Regardless of what you’re doing, when something seems like its too complicated it is. Simplify it. Do whatever it takes to reduce the clutter and the complexity in your Digital Life. I will be making this a recurring theme for this blog so let me know if you have any specific topics you’d like to know how to simplify.