A Day In The Life of

THIS BLOG IS SOMETHING I WROTE LAST SUMMER AND DECIDED NOT TO POST UNTIL NOW:

So as many people may know (or my last blog may show), my first school year at Champlain College just finished. On Friday I helped many of my friends pack up and get ready to leave on Saturday, and on Saturday I said goodbye to them and packed up some of my stuff to bring home that I won’t be using this summer, as I’ll be living in a dorm room and won’t need my kitchen ware or bathroom accessories.

So I drove home and realized that the hard drive on my laptop decides to die, but I decide not to think about it until Sunday. On Sunday I got the oil on my car changed, the tires rotated, and I visited NCIA for a bit. I then came back home and decided to start writing a blog griping and complaining about the hard drive when I got a phone call from my little sister’s friend’s mom. She asked if my dad was home, and I told her I wasn’t sure where they were. She then asked me if he knew what happened. I had no idea what happened, and had no clue if my dad “knew what happened.”

She then told me that my little sisters best friend, as well as our 12-year old neighbor, Brian Wu, was struck and killed by a car while roller blading. Not mentioning any names, a 16-year old driver was dared to get airborne by going as fast as they could up a hill with a blind corner at the top on Promenade Street. The driver lost control of the vehicle, due to travelling at a speed of 50-60 mph and hit, taking the life of, Brian.

God bless all family members and friends of Brian. Brian was a good kid and will be sorely missed by many MANY people. I will always remember the meaning of a poem that was written and read at the funeral of one of my cousins who also died young, as a teenager…saying that everything happens for a reason and that God didn’t want this boy to die, but that he needed such a great person to go on to bigger and better things as an angel in Heaven. (Of course the poem was much better, but unfortunately I don’t remember the exact words, only the meaning…)

Besides empathizing with the family and friends of Brian, this opened up my eyes, realizing that everything we once knew and loved could be gone in the blink of an eye. Don’t sweat the small things in life. What happened to my hard drive was a disappointment… what happened to Brian was a tragedy. Nobody should ever have to go through what his family did.

UPDATE: The boy who hit Brian has been sentenced to one year in jail.

So it’s the end of the semester here at Champlain College. Having completed one final prior to this week (Current Topics in Computing) and one today (Basic Telephony / Switching Systems), I have 3 left to study for. Basically two of them should be rather difficult (Macroeconomics and Philosophy) and the last should be OK (Windows Server 2003). Here’s a breakdown of my classes:

Current Topics in Computing, Paul Novak - It was a pretty sweet class. Doing nothing but presentations on recent computer topics was really cool, but hard to come up with original topics. I definitely learned a lot in the class from the presentations delivered by both my classmates and I. I expect to get a rather decent high-80’s, low-90’s in the class.

Basic Telephony / Switching Systems, Jim Hoag - The class was cool, but a lot of my problems seemed to require attention during the normal class period times, so I missed a few classes, and was asked if i was still attending school and because of this I expect a low to mid-80’s in the class.

Macroeconomics, Linda Rizvi - This class was fun, I tend to like economics, and it was challenging despite my initial opinion of the class. I got along great with the teacher because I helped her for hours on her new Mac. Pending taking the final tomorrow morning, I believe I should get a mid-80’s to low-90’s in the class.

Windows Server 2003, Sue Fritz - This class was definitely fun. I learned a lot about server-side of the Windows operating system. I learned how to effectively implement domain controllers and how to get a real network built with users and something besides DHCP to run on a Windows gateway (*chuckles*). We had a group project in which I got assigned to create a domain controller with DNS to run on it. That was a joke. Three clicks later, I was done. I do expect to get a low to mid-90’s though.

Philosophy, Alphonso Capone - I had absolutely no fun. The problem didn’t lie with the teacher, but merely that I don’t like or understand philosophical texts, and frankly have no interest in it whatsoever. I’m probably going to get a mid-60’s in the class.

So those have been my classes for the past four months, and except for a few mishaps, everything has been going decent. I haven’t really said to much about it, but I’m going to be living in Burlington this summer, so that should be pretty sweet. To all my friends: COME AND VISIT! I’m going to be working at the Computer Helpdesk throughout the summer and will be living in Pearl Hall, which will be my first experience with true dorm-style living. Can’t tell yet if I’ll like it or hate it, but I’ll find out in a few weeks!

Now for a few notes on Web Hosting and CampusBooksale.com:

1. Web Hosting is going great. I haven’t had too many problems (or progress) lately, however over the summer I will be having an “official” launch of the myCP portal, which is and has been amazingly simple to design, with a high level of security built right in. So if there has ever been a better time to get your site hosted with me, it is RIGHT NOW…no joke, the myCP portal will soon do nearly everything a corporate web hosting company provides, at many many many dollars cheaper. Don’t mean to be advertising, but I wish I had this opportunity when I first started out.

2. CampusBooksale.com has gotten ridiculously large recently. Because of a new feature in our my.champlain portal called “paige” I have gotten the word out to many many new people and have doubled the amount of books. If you haven’t checked it out, you should because you may find a good deal on a book. I’ve already found a book I need for next year, so hopefully it’ll help you as well.

3. Hopefully I’ll be able to speak to Student Government during the summer or next year about CampusBooksale. I’ve been told to do so by multiple people, but I don’t feel comfortable putting it out there yet, as it still needs much improvement before it launches. I just haven’t had the time recently, but this summer should be better for that.

Well anyway, this blog is getting large so I’ll stop, but thanks for reading!

So yesterday, March 17th, I’m awakened by the faint sound of the phone in my apartment. The phone stops ringing so I don’t get up. Then about 10 or 15 minutes later I hear a light knock on the door. Thinking it’s the RA because EVERYONE rings the doorbell but the RA I put on a shirt and pair of pants and head to the door. Looking out the peephole I see my father standing there…nice surprise!

So they begin cleaning my apartment, we agree to going out to eat, and I go take a shower. I then decided we’d go to Hooters on Route 2 and Billy, Nicole, Allie, and Eric would join us. So it’s St. Patrick’s Day…at Hooters. This is a great experience if you’ve never done it before, it was…interesting…to say the least. We order, and I’m told that I will be dancing on a stool and waitresses will sing because it’s my birthday, which I didn’t really understand…I thought it’d be the other way around.

Anyway, I start looking around and see this guy that I recognized. Not quite sure who it was I rejoined the conversations at the table, but kept looking at the guy, and knew I’d seen him in a movie before. Turns out, he is the guy I was thinking of, Luis Guzman, and I remember the movie I’d seen him in which was Anger Management. My mom asks the waitress about him, and she’s like, “Lets go talk to him.” I didn’t want to bother him, but the waitress dragged me over to him, and I started talking, and Billy takes a few pictures.

For more pictures, go to http://www.michaeltherrien.com/photos/events/20th_birthday

When I first registered my domain, I never figured that people would have issues spelling the name, to get to the site. Then I went to college and realized that not everyone originates from a French-Canadian community like the one in which I’m from, and have a hard time spelling French names. I’ve thought about this a lot in the past few months, decided to do something about it, and finally have.

I setup domain forwarding from http://www.Mike-T.com to my normal domain, which I realize is a lot easier to remember than my full name. I hope this helps more people to access my site to increase web hosting sales and getting more traffic to those whom I currently host. If anyone has any other ideas, please feel free to let me know!

That’s all for now…thanks for reading!

Mike Therrien

Bad server, bad!
The past few days have been interesting. My server decided to start displaying old versions of my pages. It was very funny, but not so funny to fix. Anyway that was fixed as of last night, so all is well currently.

My introduction to Ajax
As for my last blog, many people have taken interest in the idea of the website, so I did get a domain for the website. The website is http://www.campusbooksale.com, which seems to fit the idea perfectly. Throughout the past month or so I, as well as O’Ryan, have been working on the inter-workings of the actual site, making it more dynamic and auto-updating. O’Ryan’s came up with a really neat design for the website, and we have both been programming the site and getting it set up enough to actually start advertising it. I’m hoping that it will be completed before the end of this semester, but I can’t promise anything yet. It really has been coming along though, and I’ve started to learn Ajax, XML, XHTML, and even more PHP and JavaScript.

Hey Everyone,

A Facebook group brought to my attention that I’d rather sell my books to my friends and schoolmates than to the Bookstore or to an online company that’ll take a decent commission. I looked around for a website like craigslist.com that is just for school books and didn’t find anything…so being the intuitive procrastinator that I am I decided to take two days and make the website myself. I really hope that all the time I put into it both pays off for me (by getting books for less…lol) and for all the other students out there.

I’ll give you the link first, then a description.
http://www.campusbooksale.com

The website is very simple, easy to find what you’re looking for, easy to post both book sales and requests, and easy to update for me. If people started using it I would upgrade the site quite a bit and I’m already looking into getting a domain name for it. It is really cool and could work really good if people used it, so if you’re reading this…list the books that you have for those that are looking for next semester…and check to see what books you need for next semester and see if any are there. I’m really excited about the website and hope people start taking advantage of it.

That’s all for now, I’ll be in NYC this weekend on the Road Rules Trip, so if you do add a book sale or request, please be aware I may not be able to get to it until Sunday or Monday (don’t let this stop you though). Thanks for reading and don’t forget to visit http://www.campusbooksale.com!

Mike Therrien

So I’m going into my third week here at Champlain. It’s pretty good out here in Burlington, VT. The city is a nice place. Church Street is basically where everything is that you’d be interested in. The street itself is untravelled by vehicles, as it’s chained off. There are lots of shops, restaurants, and a really nice mall that reminds me of the underground mall in Montreal. I have no pictures right now, but I think I’m going to take some by the end of the week.

The housing that I got is off-campus, called Spinner Place. It’s more of a pain to live here, but there are perks as well. I lucked out in the room assignment because I got the handicapped room, so it is about twice the size of the other rooms in the apartment. I do have pictures of those here. The three other guys in the apartment are cool. On the day everyone was coming, I was here first, then Justin, then Tom, then JJ.
We have a full kitchen (stove/oven, microwave, fridge, sink, dishwasher) so it is nice to be able to make food that we actually want and like. I have been to the Dining Hall at Champlain and it has surprisingly good food. I could see that it would start to get old though because they have some of the same foods every single day for every meal (yes, pizza, for breakfast).

So far we’ve stuck with typical college food except for when Tom and I made AMAZING “Four Cheese Cayenne Chicken Pasta” or pancakes and french toast. Once we get more food, we’ll make more cool stuff, so if you’re interested in DONATING food to these four poor college boys looking to make a decent meal, let me know!
Anyway, getting back to Spinner…there is a nice view looking out at the river and mill (nothing like Berlin’s mill) from the windows of Spinner. It’s really nice to have my own room if I want to conceal myself or do homework in peace without being bothered.

To sum it up, college is awesome, but it would be so much better if there wasn’t homework or classes!!! Send me an email or call me or something! It’s nice to hear from people. I hope everyone is enjoying their time in school (HS or College). Thanks for reading.

An all-inclusive $50/year web host?
Doesn’t seem possible, does it? I wouldn’t believe it if I were told this!

I’ve discovered a way to get a domain and web hosting through me for really cheap. When I first bought my domain name, I searched for months to find the cheapest web hosting company, which I did find, and it’s still costing me over $140 per year.

I’ve worked really hard recently on getting this service set up, and it’s finally ready to be utilized!

I’m offering this to you for $50 per year! This means that you are getting what I get for 64% less!!!

If you are interested in a website, please check it out…
http://www.michaeltherrien.com/host

Currently being hosted is:
http://www.oryanstudios.com

So today I was up in Berlin with Keenan for a bit. He went to visit a friends, so I took his car for a drive. It was fun because it’s a standard and those are always fun. So I’m driving around for like 15 minutes, and as I’m driving down a side road, BOOM, it sounds like a big rock hit the underside of the car. I was uh-oh. I knew I didn’t do anything wrong, so I was like damn…wrong place, wrong time? But I turned it off, turned it back on, and drove back to get Keenan. On the way home, he heard the car making a pulsing noise. I didn’t exactly know what he was talking about, it sounded normal to me, because my car makes a similar sound.

So later on in the day he tells me that he decided to take it to a shop to get it looked at, and on the way, smoke started pouring out of it, and they couldn’t get it into either first or second gear. So basically I feel bad because it seems like it was my fault, even though I didn’t really do anything.

So even later on, we’re at Mr. Pizza and Keenan decides to drive my car. The damn car wouldn’t get out of first gear. Somethings wrong with this picture. His car breaks when I’m driving it, my car breaks when he’s driving it. It just doesn’t make sense. I have to get that look at, as well as inspected and registered by the end of the month. This sucks.

So basically, I don’t know how I’m getting to work tomorrow, and when/if my car makes it to the shop, I won’t be able to afford anything that has to happen to the car, as I’m also told that I may need a brake job. Stupid brakes, who needs those?

Well anyway, I’m off to bed, don’t forget to check out my eBay auction before it ends at like 10AM tomorrow morning!

Mike

Hello,
I felt like letting people know that the Mac Mini is now on eBay. I offered it around, and it didn’t seem like anyone had interest in a desktop Mac. There is only like 16 hours left, but it is past the reserve price, so anything goes from here on out.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8824203444

If you are interested in it, and you are in the area, I would be willing to arrange for pickup/dropoff if you win the auction, please just let me know ASAP after the bidding is done. Thanks for looking!