News

Grad School FFFFFFUUUUUUU

On 08.30.10, In College, Family, Life, News, Pictures, Videos, By Philip

Sometime back in late March/early April of this year, I randomly decided I wanted to go to grad school, so I scheduled an appointment to take the GRE, studied 45 minutes for it, applied for the ISDS masters program, and now I’m back in school. I thought I was done tagging posts with the “college” tag, but I guess I have another two and a half years of that (if my poor blog lasts that long).

Anyway, I haven’t updated in a while (surprise, surprise), so it’s catch up time. Back in July, a good bit of my family flew to North Carolina to spend a week at my brother’s cabin. It’s pretty awesome up there (except for the spotty cell phone coverage ).

That’s me on Chimney Rock. The view was awesome.

That’s the sunset over the lake my brother’s cabin is on. Yeah, it was really pretty.

I got to fly in an airplane, ride on crazy curvy mountain roads, swim in a mountain lake, and go white water rafting; all things I’ve never done before. It was pretty awesome. If I ever get to go again, I want to take my car so I can drive on those roads.

I’ve been writing a good bit lately (for fun, not for school/work). I’m just shy of 40,000 words on “Business As Usual,” which I’m trying to get to novel status (50,000) during editing. Also, I decided I don’t like that title. :\

My web hosting expires in about 27 days, and I don’t think I’m going to renew it. My friend James offered to host my site for me, and since I don’t really use it as much as I used to, I may just take him up on the offer and save myself some money.

I recently posted this on Facebook and on reddit (where I got my highest upvote count ever), so I’m going to put it here too so anyone that still reads this can watch it and get all nostalgic all over it with me.

What would one of my updates be without random embedded YouTube videos of music I’ve been listening to? In case you haven’t realized it yet, I like electro-*anything*, and these videos are proof.

Electro-post hardcore:

Electro-pop:

-Philip

15 days and counting…

On 06.09.10, In Music, News, Opinion, Technology, By Philip

I just wrote a pretty long news update on my fiction blog. If you haven’t noticed, the only two blogs of my F-O-U-R blogs that I actually keep up are this one and my writing blog/inphiltrate fiction, so yeah, the Lucid Dreaming project is on hold.

I think I may have called Fall Out Boy’s demise a little too early. It’s looking like they’re really on break, which is fantastic news.

Music news that isn’t so fantastic, however, is that I have a ticket to see Paramore in September and I have no idea where the ticket is. It’s very unlike me to lose things like that, and I really hope I can find it soon so I don’t have to worry about it.

Just in case anyone was wondering: yes, I’m probably getting the iPhone 4, and yes, the iPhone is the best smartphone on the market, despite what the haters may think.

We’ll be entering election season soon, and I just thought I’d throw this out there: I think Ron Paul is fantastic, but I’m actually sort of hoping he doesn’t run in 2012, because I really want (former) Governor Gary Johnson to run, and I don’t think he’ll run against Dr. Paul. One of Ron Paul’s biggest problems was that he wasn’t really that good with the media (in my opinion, at least), but Gary Johnson is. Pretty much the same ideals with a new face – well, I don’t think that could hurt the movement that Dr. Paul’s fans stand for.

-Philip

Yasseah

On 05.20.10, In Cars, Life, News, By Philip

I never realized how much college and my old job used to shape how much stuff I had to write about here until now. Since I don’t write about my current job here as a precautionary measure, that’s eight hours out of my day that go unrecordable. That combined with Twitter seems to have eaten most of my blogging abilities.

I always feel like talking about my car on here, but for some reason, I keep from doing it because I’m worried that other people will think that I’m bragging, when that’s not the case at all. I just really like my car, and I want to talk about it, just like I talk about my computer(s)…and, well, everything else I own that I talk about.

That said, I still haven’t posted any detailed information on it, and I plan on getting around to it at some point, complete with some pictures. I need to wax it, but I’m going to wait until the body work on it is done.

That reminds me: do not, I repeat, do NOT take your car to Winner’s Circle in Tigerland. I took it there to get my tire plugged and I got it back with some missing paint on the edge of the driver’s side door. One of my friends also messaged me recently to ask how I got them to pay for it, because one of their friends brought their car there and it came back with a scratch. Some of the people that work there apparently do not care about your car, and the owner is convinced that all of his employees are 100% honest about reporting accidents, so it’s fun to try to convince him that you respect your property far too much to fling your door open into something without even noticing.

I went to the dentist the other day – the first dentist I’ve gone to in Baton Rouge. That said, I highly recommend Bruns Family Dentistry. It’s run by a husband and wife, and though I didn’t have my appointment with the male doc, I can say that the female one was the best and most open dentist I’ve ever been to, if it’s possible to judge based on a first time visit. She told me a lot of stuff that I didn’t know about my teeth.

That’s all for now. Keep up with my experiments with lucid dreaming on my dream blog.

-Philip

@warp Izlude

On 03.02.10, In News, By Philip

I realize that it’s been nearly a month since my last post, and I’d apologize, except I don’t think anyone really cares/reads this anymore except for the syndicated feed of it in my notes on Facebook. For that reason, I’d like to remind everyone that they can follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/philipdistefano for more frequent (and shorter) updates on whatever it is that I happen to care (or not care) about at the moment.

I’ve been trying to think of what to do with this site recently since it seems like no one really cares about personal blogs anymore. I came to the conclusion that I mostly write here fo myself anyway, so even if noone reads it (or everyone reads/comments on the Facebook note instead), its already served its purpose.

So that’s just a small status update. I’ll try to make an actual post in the near future.

2010 to do

On 01.04.10, In Life, Lists, News, By Philip

I managed to let Christmas and New Year’s Day come and go without a blog post, so I’d like to wish a belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you.

So, I am not really into making New Year’s resolutions, because I always seem to come up with one unachievable thing that will take far longer than a year to accomplish. I’m still working on my resolution from 2005 (at least, I think it was 2005), which was to learn to be ambidextrous. I’m actually pretty decent at writing with my left hand now.

Anyway, this year I’d like to just make a short list of very achievable things I would like to do, so here we go.

1.) Take a roadtrip to Massachusetts and maybe somewhere else.
2.) Upgrade Kalmiya with an SSD and some RAM.
3.) Install a cold air intake in Evey.
4.) Go to a doctor about my freaking ear.
5.) Finish the story I’m writing with at least 50,000 words.
6.) Memorize pi to 200 decimal points (currently at 80).
7.) Finish memorizing the Architect’s speech.
8.) See Creed again during their spring tour.
9.) Make at least one new friend that’s pretty spontaneous.
10.) See Panic! At the Disco, even if their tour this year doesn’t come close by. Four years of waiting is long enough.

That’s all for now. Hopefully I can get most of the things in that list done.

I also plan to make a detailed post about Evey sometime in the near future. All I’ve really done so far is post pictures of her, and I want to do a little more than that.

-Philip

Screw It

On 08.26.09, In News, By Philip

Screw it.

Before I change my mind, this is my best kept secret on the Internet. I think a total of four people know it exists, two of which are ex-girlfriends.

It’s mostly sappy romance stuff (*vomit*, I know), but there’s other stuff too. Also, the farther back you go, the worse my writing gets, so I don’t suggest reading the old stuff (though there are a few older things I really like).

Oh, and I guess now you all know why this blog is named “inphiltrate nonfiction.”

Pete Wentz Is the Only Reason I’m Posting This

On 07.22.09, In Humor, Music, News, By Philip

It only took two months, but I actually updated my grammar blog: Lie and Lay.

Lately I’ve been in more of a writing mood than I have in past months. I have no idea if this is related, but I think in the past couple of days, I’ve Tweeted less. Maybe subconsciously I know that what I have to say just can’t be condensed into 140 characters.

Anywho, the main point of this is to post a note here that for some reason, I posted on Facebook instead of posting it here and letting Facebook syndicate it. It’s probably the best meme I’ve ever seen. Everything following the break is the note.

—

I don’t normally do these things, but I took a look at this and decided I had to because the band I would choose would make it totally ridiculous. Don’t take any of these answers seriously except for the ones that obviously are.

Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. Pass it on to 10 people you like and include me (presuming I’m someone you like). You can’t use the band I used. Try not to repeat a song title. It’s a lot harder than you think! Repost as “my life according to (band name)”

(P.S. I’m not tagging anyone. Too bad! )

Pick your Artist
Fall Out Boy

Are you a male or female:
“Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy”

Describe yourself:
“I Don’t Care”

How do you feel:
“Homesick at Space Camp”

Describe where you currently live:
“America’s Suitehearts”

If you could go anywhere, where would you go?
“Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet”

Your favorite form of transportation:
“Reinventing the Wheel to Run Myself Over”

Your best friend?
“The Music and the Misery”

You and your best friends are:
“Champagne For My Real Friends, Real Pain For My Sham Friends”

What’s the weather like?
“Calm Before the Storm”

Favorite time of day:
“Saturday”

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called:
“I’ve Got a Dark Alley and a Bad Idea That Says You Should Shut Your Mouth”

Your relationship:
“I’ve Got All This Ringing in My Ears and None on My Fingers”

What is life to you:
“Get Busy Living Or Get Busy Dying (Do your part to save the scene and stop going to shows)”

Your fear:
“Dead on Arrival”

What is the best advice you have to give:
“This Ain’t A Scene, It’s an Arms Race”

Thought for the Day:
“Tell That Mick He Just Made My List of Things to do Today”

How I would like to die:
“The Pros and Cons of Breathing”

My soul’s present condition:
“My Heart is The Worst Kind of Weapon”

My motto:
“Don’t You Know Who I Think I Am?”

I Chime In…

On 06.21.09, In Friends, Life, News, Pictures, By Philip

I have a lot of catching up to do, but I really doubt I’ll cover everything I originally intended to cover.

I had a party last weekend. It was quite epic, and lots of fun was had.

That’s my favorite picture, though I wish more people were in it, cause that’s not even half. My friends are pretty awesome. I wish we could do stuff like that more often.

I also went to the Chimes twice last weekend, once on Friday night and once on Sunday morning. (The Chimes * 2) + awesome friends + party = super win.

I know I write enough about Buckle here, but sometimes I just feel like they deserve the praise. I looked for months and months for a pair of pants I could wear to work that wouldn’t make me feel like I was 40 years old. Namely, something that wasn’t big and baggy – pants are supposed to fit, not hang off of you, and that’s mostly why I hate Dockers/slacks/dress pants. I finally found a pair of pants that are suitable for work, and of course, I found them at Buckle. Those pants combined with my realization that American Eagle Vintage Fit Eagle Polos are *awesome* has led to my work attire moving from “frustrating and depressing” to “I pretty much feel normal now,” except tucking in my shirt still annoys the ever living crap out of me. I Tweeted this before, but I think it deserves repeating: whoever came up with the idea of tucking your shirt into your pants seriously needs to be punched in the face. It doesn’t make any sense when you really think about it.

And this is really sad, but I can’t think of anything else I wanted to say. *sigh*

Oh yeah, this is about 3 months late, but happy 5 year anniversary to my blog. “Phil’s Waste-of-Bandwidth Website” was born in late March of 2004 and turned into inphiltrate.com about a year later.

Wayback Machine Archive of the first or second version of inphiltrate (highlight the main frame to see the blog posts). I actually still have the entire site backed up. I should throw it up in a subdirectory so you can all laugh at my retarded “OMG I HAVE TO BLOG EVERY DAY OR I FAIL” posts.

-Philip

Candles

On 05.02.09, In Life, News, Videos, By Philip

“Twitter is the dialtone of the 21st century.” – Leo Laporte

I probably sound like a big Microsoft hater on Twitter sometimes. I guess I have to sacrifice certain attributes of my opinion to create a proper 140 character Tweet.

My car battery died today. It was a big pain, but I got it replaced thanks to a bunch of people jumping me throughout the day.

I started a new blog on grammar and language. I know that doesn’t sound exciting, but I’m mostly writing it for me so it doesn’t have to be.

10:15

Last but not least, here’s another video I took at the show a couple weekends ago.

-Philip

Blog Neglect

On 04.08.09, In Friends, Life, News, Technology, By Philip

It’s that time of month again. Yes, that time when I apologize for not blogging in X amount of time and then proceed to say that I’ve been busy and perhaps tell you what I’ve been busy with.

Well, if you’ve been keeping up with my Twitter updates, then you’ve pretty much got the gist of what I’ve been up to. I managed to kill a video card and a bluetooth dongle within the span of a week. I already replaced my GeForce 8600 GT with a Radeon HD 4650, but the bluetooth dongle is still broken and awaiting replacement (read: waiting for me to get paid ).

I went out to eat yesterday with some friends, and that was pretty cool. All in all, life is going pretty well, except that my days seem so short now. I got used to having so much time for myself that now, by the time I get off work and cook/eat, it’s already 5:30 or 6, and then I’ve been going to bed at 11 lately so I won’t be tired at work. I’m not sure if that’ll last, but for right now, I think it’s best.

Microsoft’s new ads targeting Macs (and promoting HP?) are finally up to that bar that Apple set for competition between the two companies. The only thing they’re missing is that they aren’t funny (though they aren’t intended to be). So anyone that complained about the Apple ads…Microsoft has struck back. “I guess I’m not cool enough to own a Mac” and “Macs are all about aesthetics” are pretty funny though, in that oh-so-sad way. It’s also kind of funny that they came out with these commercials about the common computer buyer like a year after they stuck Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld in some random family’s house to find out how the average person lives because they were so out of touch. I personally think that instead of striking back at Apple, they need to actually advertise their operating system. I haven’t seen a commercial for Windows in…years.

And speaking of Apple and Microsoft, I had an idea for a post that I don’t feel like writing right now, so…note to self, and stuff.

-Philip

inphiltrate nonfiction v.7.5

Tweets that are too long for Twitter.

Grad School FFFFFFUUUUUUU

15 days and counting…

Yasseah

@warp Izlude

2010 to do

Screw It

Pete Wentz Is the Only Reason I’m Posting This

I Chime In…

Candles

Blog Neglect

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