Reading Comprehension

What Is This?
This is a picture of my linear algebra textbook.

Hate It Or Love It?
Don't you hate it when you get to the end of a page and then realize you haven't comprehended a thing?

After hours of reading my math textbook for my midterm tomorrow, I began to glaze over pages without realizing it. The end of a page would snap me back to reality and at that point the only thought I had was:



To be fair, it's linear algebra, and I probably would have that exact same thought even if I was concentrating.

Buffering...

Hey guys, it's been a while. Four months to be exact. I was actually thinking about stopping Hate It Or Love It altogether, but I figured that it might be fun to do posts every once in a while when something during my day sparks my interest. Nothing regular, because regularity creates pressure to write about lukewarm material, but check back from time to time to see what's up.



What Is This?
This is me trying to watch an episode of Family Guy on my laptop

Hate It Or Love It?
Don't you hate it when you're trying to watch a video online and the video stops to buffer every 5 seconds?

Here's the rhetorical question of the day: How frustrating is it when you're trying to watch an interesting video or your favorite T.V. show online and it constantly needs to buffer? I mean, how are you supposed to enjoy what you're watching when you have to worry about those little bars on the bottom of your video (see Figure 3)? It's like a horse race between the "current position" bar and the "percent loaded" bar. And if the "current position" bar catches up, you lose. Stop. Wait. And repeat.

Fig. 3:


Also, shout out to UCLA_WEB_RES (our network) for its horrible bitrate.

Life Is A Highway

What Is This?
This is a nighttime view of Interstate 280 from the driver's seat of my car.

Hate It Or Love It?
Don't you love it when you're cruising down the highway on a clear summer night?

Driving in the summer can be a drag. If you've ever been on the road during an 85 degree rush hour you know what I mean. A long commute in bumper to bumper traffic on the same sticky stretch of concrete as a hundred other impatient drivers will stress you out like few other things can.

But as the traffic thins out and the hot afternoon turns into a cool night, the dynamics of highway driving change completely. I love everything about those nighttime summer cruises. The emptiness on the road. The perfect temperature. The white headlights on one side, the red taillights on the other. The good music blaring from your speakers. The dashed lane lines flying by on either side. There is something truly relaxing about that kind of open road freedom. You're going somewhere but the scenery around you remains the same. You experience a kind of detachment from reality; your instincts take over the driving and your mind is free to wander.

Ain't nothin' like them summer nights.

Get Your Own Food!

What Is This?
This is a picture of Selena devouring my entire McDonald's meal.

Hate It Or Love It?
Don't you hate it when someone asks to share food with you and they end up eating almost the whole meal?

Me: "I'm gonna get a chicken strips meal. What do you want?"

Selena: "I'm not that hungry. I'll just have one chicken strip and a couple of fries from yours."

Me: "Are you sure? I know what that really means..."

Selena: "Yes I'm sure. I don't know what you're talking about."

After we get the food, I go back to get some honey mustard. When I get back I find two chicken strips. That's funny, I thought a combo came with three...
Then I look over at Selena who looks like she is trying to see how many french fries she can stuff in her mouth at once. She grins.

Me: "Okay, that's your one."

Selena: "Nope."

And before I can do anything else, she grabs another one and eats it. It's okay, though, because I think I've deciphered her code. "I'm only going to eat one chicken strip and a couple of fries" actually means "You're only going to get to eat one chicken strip and a couple of fries".

Repost: Free At Last

It's a little old, but this has never felt more true than now:


Free At Last!

Hello, summer vacation!

My Competition

This is a video from awhile back, but for those of you who haven't seen it...
(Beware, slight use of profanity)



I only wish that I could convey my Hate Its as well as this guy.

Just Blowing Hot Air

What Is This?
This is a grainy picture (sorry for the poor quality but my LG Shine broke and I have to resort to using an old cell phone camera) of a hand dryer at the Burger King in Westwood.

Hate It Or Love It?
Don't you hate it when a hand dryer doesn't get your hands completely dry?

I'm all for the save-paper-save-the-environment concept. But sometimes it's annoying when the dryer lets out a lackluster stream of lukewarm air and your pants are your only substitute for paper towels.

Enter the Dyson Airblade (check out the nifty animation!). This beast shoots out sheets of wind at 400mph to simply dry off your hands. How awesome is that? Best part is, they've installed one of these $1200 monstrosities in the De Neve bathrooms.

Wait. Hold up. $1200? Let me get this straight: budget cuts are causing UCLA to admit less students, cram more kids into already crowded classrooms and even drop some majors entirely and we're spending money to dry off our hands adequately?

Well, at least it makes for some good entertainment.