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[pwhodges]

I'm constantly dizzy and every head movement feels amplified.

My wife gets that when she has labyrinthitis (which has happened twice) - but that doesn't produce a hearing loss for her (more than usual - she's over 50% deaf anyway)

Another possibility is a blocked blood vessel in the inner ear,

Have you been given anything to treat that possibility (aspirin and clopidogrel comes to mind)?

But in general it sounds as if your doctor is on the ball, at least.  Good luck!

[nekowafer]

Can you get a second opinion? I think this requires more than just "eh no clue, take some medicine"!

[LTK]

My wife gets that when she has labyrinthitis (which has happened twice) - but that doesn't produce a hearing loss for her (more than usual - she's over 50% deaf anyway)

It must be a case of: same symptoms, different cause.

Have you been given anything to treat that possibility (aspirin and clopidogrel comes to mind)?

No, because that's just something I read on the internet and I haven't asked the doctor if that's actually the case.

But in general it sounds as if your doctor is on the ball, at least.  Good luck!

Thanks.

Can you get a second opinion? I think this requires more than just "eh no clue, take some medicine"!

The GP, the ear doctor and the abovementioned internet doctor recommend taking corticosteroids, because that's the only thing that's been proven to work at all, apparently. I don't think there's any more to know.

[Loki]

Good news: My doorbell finally got fixed. This is VERY convenient, because I live in a dorm, the house door opens only from the inside or with a key, and I wasn't able to order pizza until now without worrying whether the pizza guy could get into the house and up to my room.

Good news: a technical magicamajig I had ordered arrived today.

Bad news: it doesn't work. I don't know whether I missed some steps setting it up or if it was broken from the get-go.

Good news: My best friend has the same thing, so I am gonna call him later today and ask if he can help.

Good news: the sweets my mother sent to me are awesome.

Bad news: I miss having sex.

Bad old news: I still have to tidy up my room.

[ankhtahr]

You know, most pizza delivery people have a cell phone. If you write "please call upon arrival" on your order it works. We did that whenever we ordered pizza to the school…

What is a "technical magicamajig"? Even google doesn't find anything.

Bad news: I miss having sex.

Good news: I don't.
Bad news: That's because you have to have had something to miss it.

[Masterpiece]

It'll happen, don't worry.

[nekowafer]

I hear that hands are an okay substitute for such things.

[Patrick]

Hell, if I were a chick I'd do ya.

Got into a huge argument with a friend over him fuckin' up hella bad and letting a buncha underage drinkers hang out at the bar without telling me or any of the bar staff that there were underage folks with fake IDs. I only found out literally the very second they all got into the taxi to go home. Upon informing him that it's not kosher to do that, first the dude mocked me, then proceeded to make up his own version of how it works when a bar gets caught with underage drinkers here in California. That's two things I can't abide, is blatant dickholery and ignorance, so I set that shit straight.

Well, dude wasn't happy with that so now we ain't friends because he can't handle being told he fucked up. Fuck that fuckin fuck, he's an annoying ass anyway.

[ankhtahr]

On a happier note: I finally got myself some decent speakers. Bought them used from a member of a different forum. 100€ including shipping from Italy. Took only two days to arrive here. A pair of ESI uniK 04 active monitoring speakers. Mixed reviews, and I can understand them, as they are not absolutely linear, so for monitoring purposes they probably aren't the best choice, but they totally kick ass for ordinary listening to music. Been testing them for several hours now, FLAC, some of the music being in 24bit/96kHz, Asus Xonar DX and the speakers are fucking awesome. And really small for that sound. Finally no need to wear frickin headphones when I want good sound quality anymore.

[Masterpiece]

On my first birthday in Munich my friends asked me what present I wanted. I didn't know, so I joked that I wanted loudspeakers.

they went and bought me Bose loudspeakers, which are awesome.

[ankhtahr]

The problem with Bose is that you pay quite a lot, only for the name. Sure, they sound fine, but you can get better for the price. If I had enough money to spend I would buy myself ELAC speakers. I visited their factory once. Most of the stuff is handmade, and the sound is phenomenal. Especially their JET tweeters are amazing. We were allowed to watch the production of those. The membrane is completely handfolded and sounds much better than most other tweeters which are produced in the same way. We weren't allowed to take photos or videos, as this is still one of their biggest advantages.

[Asterus]

So I had run into a little problem with my usual writing, so I tried something different. I started writing things down as they occurred to me, without any edits (Basically, I started transcribing trains of thought and some of the conversations I simulate when I'm bored) just to see what would come out. After about 5 pages of solid writing, I decided that was enough for half an hour's work. From this, I have learned that I can actually focus on something longer than 10 minutes, I am alarmingly good at projecting a second persona to converse with (Read: Talking to myself), and my stream of consciousness doesn't actually need too much editing in its raw form.

And that my thoughts are apparently a short-term diary -_-

It did magically smash my writer's block into rubble though, so that's a plus.

[Patrick]

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/kimjongsick/helplessly-hoping[/soundcloud]

So I recorded a cover. It isn't my own music, so I didn't post to the "own music" thread. Hope y'all enjoy.

[celticgeek]

I enjoyed it. 

[Loki]

The GF of the guy I was hanging out with at the graduation party is adorable and they make such a cute couple together *jealous*
Today was a good day. I danced for the first time in ages again. Didnt realize how much I missed it. Free booze = awesomeliciousness.

[nekowafer]

I have to work today. Usually I have weekends off so this kinda sucks. I am also of the sit-at-my-desk variety, and today I'm doing manual labor. Whine.

[Masterpiece]

I've been writing a Minimax Algorithm and I'm failing at making it stop going deeper (inb4 Inception Joke). It's at depth 4094 and causing a stack overflow, which is frustrating considering it's supposed to be an algorithm calculating a Tic Tac Toe game.

[Loki]

I have only a faint idea what you are doing. Why would you need such a high recursion(?) depth for Tic Tac Toe?
Also I assume you are aware of the Tic Tac Toe solution chart at xkcd?

[Masterpiece]

I have only a faint idea what you are doing. Why would you need such a high recursion(?) depth for Tic Tac Toe?

I don't. I'm trying to figure out why my code is going that deep.

At least Reversi works:

(click to show/hide)

[Carl-E]

So I recorded a cover. It isn't my own music, so I didn't post to the "own music" thread. Hope y'all enjoy.

I did!  Took me back to a time when my turntable was working... 

Were the vocals all you, or with bandmates? 

[Patrick]

Thanks! I would really like to find me some CSN on vinyl soon. New job is already making that look a whole lot easier, just got my first paycheck on Friday so hell yeah. Vocals are indeed all me, my hausmate is letting me borrow his 16-track recorder/controller/interface gadget again so I'm trying to get some practice in so I'm fresh for when Troubador records again (hint: perhaps soon!). Glad you and celticgeek dig

[Lines]

Going home today. I don't want to leave! San Diego has been such a good time. I really only miss my house, cats, and people, so I'm really tempted to pick them up and plop them down here in San Diego. Or just take the perpetual good weather and good food/drinks home.

[Akima]

At least Reversi works:

Pfft! If you want a real challenge...

[Masterpiece]

At least Reversi works:

Pfft! If you want a real challenge...

I have to admit that I wasn't that interested in writing the AI in the Reversi game. I worked more on the UI backend (We had multiple team members), creating a completely variable skinnable GUI for the game. In the finished code, the GUI knows how to draw itse lf, but has no idea what to draw and where to draw it. These values are read from configuration files in runtime, allowing multiple themes and hot-swapping. When we were graded, my teachers didn't understand the systems I wrote. I felt good about myself.

[snalin]

(click to show/hide)

Do you actually serialize, or is the serialVersionUID just there to make Eclipse stop complaining? Anyways, if it's "normal" Tic Tac Toe, with a 3x3 board, there should only be 9! ~ 362.000 possible games, which is definitely not overflow-worthy. Or is it a larger board?

[Masterpiece]

I've not serialized yet. I can see where it might make sense, because GUIs do change a lot, but I haven't done it so far.

And it's a standard 3x3 board, and I'm getting frustrated with the stack overflows. They're not supposed to happen.

[Patrick]

Yesterday and tonight I did some work on a cover of "I Didn't Understand" by Elliott Smith. it is nowhere near done, and I am very tempted to scrap the whole damn thing and start fresh because the noise from the onboard metronome leaked out from my headphones while I was tracking and ruined the purity of my take. This has been the single most frustrating thing I've ever done in my entire life. I just retired the recorder/controller/interface for the night and will begin again sometime tomorrow, probably completely from scratch.

So a few of you may know of my bandmate Matt. Well, his girlfriend Adara is from Vancouver, and when she first came here and met Matt, she was here visiting her sister in prison, eventually met Matt, and the rest is history. Well, her parents and her nephew (the imprisoned sister's son) came down to visit, and they were at Matt's house after band practice today. I got to meet them, and almost immediately they had me doing shots with them and Matt's parents.

The party wound down and so I treated Matt and Paul to a movie. We arrived intending to see World War Z, but it was sold out, so instead we saw This Is The End. It was... ehh. There were about 3 parts that I thought were hilarious and they were all in the first 20 minutes of the movie. 2 of them involved Michael Cera. I think the funniest part of the moviegoing experience was in fact during the previews where an advert involving Taylor Swift came on, and Paul quipped, "I cannot stand Taylor Swift but I would hate-fuck the shit out of her in a heartbeat" and a young couple nearby laughed and approached him for a high-five.

[snalin]

World War Z seems to be a prime example on everything that is wrong with how incredibly afraid Hollywood is of fresh IPs;
"We want to make a movie about zombies, we have all these original ideas!"
"Well, we don't think it will sell unless we give it the same title as a semi-known book"
"Does the movie script need to have anything to do with the book at all?"
"Nope!"
"Won't that maybe piss off the fans of the book?"
"I cannot hear you over the sound of not caring. Excuse me while I go sniff cocaine off of some hookers' asses"


Masterpiece; if you want some help, I can look at your code.

[GarandMarine]

And it's up and away in the morning!
For the tears that our mothers have cried!
But the sea she had called me,
and you may call me balmy,
but I went to her just like a bride!
And it's up and away in the morning!

So my little brother just sent me this song, which is more or less saying that his ship the George Washington will be leaving port within a day or so for his first time at sea. While I'm a Marine as opposed to a sailor, we're all part of the naval service, and I have to admit... where I'm sitting now to where he is now at the start of a grand adventure and a career he's already wrapped up in happily... I'm... jealous. The Marines was pretty much my life, it was really all I wanted to do, as I know I've mentioned else where, but two severe injuries one of mind, another of body, left me broken and.... hating. I'm not hating any more, which is refreshing. Hate can only really take you so far in the long or short term, but it stops you going cold at least. I'm still dealing with the fact that I am alive, I'm still broken beyond repair to the condition where I can do what I should be doing... but I'm on another path that will at least give me away to stay involved. While I envy my brother's path, I don't begrudge him this, and I'm proud of the man he's become from a goofy art school drop out. (He's still goofy, I don't think Marine Corps Drill Instructors could kick that out of him) and I'm interested to see how this turn at sail will change him, if he'll come back a sailor or a whelp ready to kiss the dirt out of relief. The sea was never my mistress, the clear skies are mine, but it's a similar relationship with a force of nature that'll kill you at random with not a second's warning. I'm permanently separated from my lover with my wings pulled like they'd been ripped physically off my body, but she never broke me, and I'll be cursed to long for that till death's kiss claims me.

Blegh this got weird and rambling.

Fair winds and following seas mate.

S/F

[Masterpiece]

Masterpiece; if you want some help, I can look at your code.

Thanks. How am I supposed to send you the code?

[LeeC]

I hear red pandas make awesome pets...



"The Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C. is looking for an 11-month-old red panda who vanished overnight. The red panda, named Rusty, arrived at the zoo last month from Lincoln, Neb., and made his D.C. debut in the Smithsonian’s Asia Trail habitat two weeks ago on June 10. "
source

wondering if the little guy escaped or someone got a new "kitty"

[Carl-E]

Sheriff's deputies showed up at the door this morning to serve us foreclosure papers.  The bank disconnected me when I tried calling.  We have 20 days to address the "issue". 

Thing is, I sent in a mortgage adjustment application a month ago, and was talking with someone at the bank about the details.  I've left her a voicemail.  It was supposed to put the foreclosure on hold. 

In the papers was a letter from the bank that we never received dated May 17, saying we had until June 19 to resolve the issue. 


Fuckers.  It's gonna be over 10 grand before it's all over with. 


Or we'll be out on the street with my daughter's medical equipment and hospital bed. 

[pwhodges]

I'm so sorry to hear that...  I can't think of anything to say except that I'm thinking of you.

But I do know something of how you must be feeling - it reminds me of the time (nearly 30 years ago) that the bank told me on the last working day before Christmas that no, I couldn't have any money to buy food for the children over the holiday.

[Akima]

I'm so sorry to hear that...  I can't think of anything to say except that I'm thinking of you.

Likewise...

[Patrick]

ITT I abuse the soundcloud embed button and spam you with sad songs

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/kimjongsick/i-didnt-understand[/soundcloud]

[Patrick]

I met some guy at the bar tonight in the middle of him telling my buddy he was listening to Nick Drake and Elliott Smith on his headphones, and I tried to approach him about it because I love them both, and that dude was literally the single most awkward person I've ever met.

I feel so much better about my own social skills.

[Welu]

Failed my driving test. Booking the next one next week.

[GarandMarine]

Fingers crossed for you Welu, I was stressing out about a mandatory retest I had to take a month and a half ago so I know the stress. T_T

[Asterus]

I'm so glad I barely passed the first time. I still can't parallel park, and have depth perception issues, but I drive defensively enough that it was enough to pass.

[GarandMarine]

You don't have to parallel park for the driving test here any more. I can't do it because you don't have to in the West.

[nekowafer]

Yeah I'm not looking forward to learning to parallel park. But it's something I definitely need to know, as I'd be parking that way in front of the place where I'm currently living.

[Papersatan]

Nothing more irritating than suburbanites in suvs who block traffic for 10 min while they try to get the good spot in front of the trendy bistro downtown because they don't want to walk 2 blocks from a garage. 

If you have committed to not learning to parallel park, than you have given up your right to ever try in a place with traffic.

[ankhtahr]

Parallel parking is a necessity in German drivers education. Is also one of the things you probably have to do during the 45 minutes practical driving test.

[Carl-E]

It really isn't nearly as hard as everyone makes out.  It takes a little practice, and is different depending on the wheelbase and length of your car, but with a few practice runs you can get it right every time. 

Just be sure to practice in he car you'll take the test with.  You can't learn the car's dimensions during the test! 

[Patrick]

Parallel parking is a necessity in German drivers education. Is also one of the things you probably have to do during the 45 minutes practical driving test.

Name me one thing that isn't.

[Pilchard123]

Well isn't that Rule 34 bait.

[ankhtahr]

Oh god…

[Pilchard123]

See also Pat's sig.

[Welu]

Parallel parking is something you learn here but you only have to do two of four manoeuvres you learn on the test. One will always be the emergency stop and you'll likely get reversing around a corner or turning in the road (three point turn). There's also bay parking but that doesn't seem to come up. Since it's a pain in the arse to find cars to do the parking behind, my instructor says it almost never happens. It's also something I'd need to know how to do to park outside my house, if I ever get a car before I move.

I got a major fault, which is an instant fail, in the first five minutes of the test. Was gutted because I knew right then I'd failed but decided to finish it any way. Then because I was flustered, did two more major faults in the next minute. All mistakes I never do because nerves got to me.

[ankhtahr]

Parallel parking is something you learn here but you only have to do two of four manoeuvres you learn on the test. One will always be the emergency stop and you'll likely get reversing around a corner or turning in the road (three point turn). There's also bay parking but that doesn't seem to come up. Since it's a pain in the arse to find cars to do the parking behind, my instructor says it almost never happens. It's also something I'd need to know how to do to park outside my house, if I ever get a car before I move.

That is strikingly similar to Germany actually. According to my driving school the four basic maneuvers are reversing around a corner, turning, parallel parking and emergency stop. Of these four three will be asked. In most cases reversing around a corner is left out, so the other three are most likely. Also an emergency stop is necessary.